Day 34 Innerspace (1987)

Science Fiction Thursday

I know people who think the worst thing about any film with Dennis Quaid is Dennis Quaid. I have usually found him to be fully up to snuff, and when he is cast correctly,  he has been excellent.  Martin Short  is one of the funniest men alive, and he can hold his own against any other comic actor. Meg Ryan was near the start of her career, and she was playing love interest to another military pilot. This is so clearly an 80s film it is funny just to think about it. It is also clearly a Joe Dante film.

Tuck Pendleton (Quaid) is part of an experiment that is apparently trying to shrink people to microscopic proportions, a la “Fantastic Voyage”. Just as it appears to be working, a secret rival group hijacks the process and to avoid giving up the device and it’s pilot, the syringe containing Tuck and his craft ends up being injected into hypochondriac store clerk Jack Putter (Short). This is a science fiction comedy that takes an old premise, puts modern (for 1987) effects in place, and then turns up the slapstick quotient. 

Like most Joe Dante films, it is filled with familiar faces. William Schallert, Dick Miller and Kevin McCarthy all make an appearance.  There are some of Short’ s SCTV cohorts and several moments that are usually found in a Dante film, like Tv’s exploding. The premise turns into a race against time with a rebellious pilot controlling the actions of a nervous Nelly, and the assistance of a pretty journalist.  As is usual,  there is always a complication on the road to rescue.  Most of these complications include a moment of jeopardy and one of levity. The ability to manipulate Jack’s body becomes a premise for much of the silly humor in the story. 

The way Martin Short distorts his face in the film to end up looking like Robert Picardo is old school make up and camera special effects.  There is another gag where the bad guys get reduced by 50%, and they use a combo of forced perspective and puppets and sets to achieve the effect. It is hard to take seriously a character who is a killer who has a replacement hand that is a set of snap on tools. Still it’s quite a bit of fun. This is the second film in a row with a great Jerry Goldsmith score. Goldsmith  did most of Dante’s films and this was a great mix of themes with some of the electronic instruments Goldsmith was noted for.

Dee and I saw this film with her friend from the DWP, Nancy. We met at the Cineplex Odeon at Universal City. The theater was relatively new then and it had quite an elaborate lobby. It was easy to remember this because they had a promo display for Robocop and it was a full scale model of Ed 209, and I have a picture of it somewhere.