'Weird Science'
There's going to be sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, chips, dips, chains, whips... your basic Rewatchables episode. The Ringer's Bill Simmons and Kyle Brandt revisit John Hughes's 1985 hit 'Weird Science,' starring Anthony Michael Hall, Kelly LeBrock, and Ilan Mitchell-Smith.
Cast
Anthony Michael Hall as Gary Wallace
Kelly LeBrock as Lisa
Bill Paxton as Chet Donnelly
Robert Downey Jr. as Ian
Directed by: John Hughes
Notes
- Budget of $7.5 million, grossed $38.9 million.
- Based on a 1951 pre-Comics Code comic 'Made of the Future' by Al Feldstein.
- Hughes conceived the movie while filming Breakfast Club; told Anthony Michael Hall on set.
- Hall turned down both Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller (and a Stanley Kubrick offer for Full Metal Jacket as Joker) after this.
- Hall was the youngest SNL cast member ever at 17.
- Kelly LeBrock married Steven Seagal after this; they were together over a decade.
- Robert Downey Jr. confirmed on Howard Stern that he and co-star Robert Rusler defecated in a female cast member's trailer (not Kelly LeBrock's).
- A TV series ran for 88 episodes in the mid-90s with Vanessa Angel as Lisa.
- Kim Malin (May 1982 Playmate) has the ultimate nameless character triple crown: 'Girl Playing Piano' ('Weird Science'), 'Hostage' ('Die Hard'), 'Party Girl' ('Road House').
Categories
Quote from Rog's review:
“Weird Science combines 2 great traditions in popular entertainment: inflamed male teenage fantasies and Frankenstein's monster.”
Ebert gave it 3 stars. Said Kelly LeBrock is 'wonderful as the fantasy woman' and the film was 'funnier, a little deeper than the predictable story it might have been.'
- Kyle: Chet on the stairs trying to make drunk Gary throw up – 'every line is quotable.' The booze hounds returning is the height of the movie.
- Bill: Gary's dad scenes (for personal reasons). Also: the opening credits (gym, geekdom, pants-pulling, Oingo Boingo), creating Kelly LeBrock (gets the 'OK Motherfucker' award), the second creation attempt at the party, Chet confronting everyone in the blue kitchen, the grandparents in the closet.
- Kyle: The computer hacking sequence believing you could create a hot girl from a computer, immediately followed by David Lee Roth on TV.
- Bill: Everything Kyle said, plus the title song by Oingo Boingo – 'that literally had to happen in 1985.' Also: the trunk with a lock full of Playboys and Penthouses, posters (Depeche Mode, A-ha, Human League).
- Robert Downey Jr. being young and in it (fun for 'Iron Man' fans).
- Same high school as 'The Breakfast Club' (John Hughes universe crossover).
- Grandparents frozen in the closet – still funny 40 years later.
- The 'Superbad' connection (similar premise, party structure, ending with two guys pairing off).
- Bill: LeBrock and Ilan Mitchell-Smith making out – he was 15.5 years old. Also: Wyatt wearing her underwear for multiple minutes; gay slurs throughout; the Richard Pryor impersonation scene.
- Craig's flex: Naming your dream girl 'Lisa' with no thought at all.
- The Road Warrior homage (9-minute sequence that only works if you know Mad Max 2).
- Bill: 'Tenderness' by General Public – kicks in at the satisfying ending when they say goodbye to the girls.
- Also: the Oingo Boingo theme song – a candidate for best 80s movie theme.
- Kyle: The boys weren't nearly horny enough – 'they made a super hot woman and there's no fucking action here. We made a hot big sister.' Lisa teases them sexually but acts as an older sister. 'Which is it?'
- Bill: Had the exact same pick – 'these kids weren't nearly horny enough.'
- Also: Lisa's inconsistent character – takes them to a terrible bar, lets underage kids drink and drive, pulls a gun on Gary's dad, invites a biker gang.
- Kyle: 'Lisa sucks.' She takes them to a terrible bar, lets Gary get coerced into drinking, lets Wyatt drink and drive, teases them sexually, pulls a gun on Gary's dad, erases his dad's memory, puts grandparents in a closet, turns Chet into a toad, invites a biker gang – 'what exactly does she do for them?'
- Bill: Case for best 80s movie theme song with the title in it. Finalists: 'Weird Science' (Oingo Boingo), Footloose (Kenny Loggins), 'St. Elmo's Fire', 'Purple Rain', Ghostbusters, Against All Odds. 'In the finals I'd have Footloose against 'Weird Science'.'
- Kelly Emberg (SI model, Rod Stewart's girlfriend) was originally cast as Lisa but left after 2 days for 'creative differences.'
- Demi Moore and Robin Wright auditioned for Lisa.
- Anthony Michael Hall chose this over National Lampoon's European Vacation.
John Kapelos – also the janitor in Breakfast Club and appeared in Sixteen Candles.
- Kyle: Bill Paxton as Chet – 'only 3 scenes, steals the entire movie.' Takes an hour away from the movie in the middle, but every time he's on screen you're not turning away.
- Bill: Gary's dad (Britt Leach).
- Anthony Michael Hall: Yes.
- Kelly LeBrock: Yes.
- Bill Paxton as asshole older brother: Yes.
- Shermer High School: Probably Breakfast Club.
- John Hughes: Breakfast Club.
- Scrambled porn: Yes – 'you couldn't see anything but you stared at it for hours.'
- People being turned into a toad: Yes.
Cruise as Wyatt – early 80s Cruise, Outsiders era.
Spielberg.
Bill and Kyle debated – possibly one of the bullies, or Gary's friend.
Kim Malin (Playmate) launching out of the chimney. Also: the shower/close-up combo when Lisa is created.
Not explicitly discussed, but the Chet toad and the 'Weird Science' movie poster would be candidates.
Believe in yourself (the actual lesson Lisa was trying to teach, even if Kyle thinks she sucks).
'Superbad' – the spiritual successor with the same premise.
Bill Paxton steals the film as Chet, but Anthony Michael Hall and John Hughes are the real winners – Hughes conceived it while making Breakfast Club and Hall chose it over European Vacation and later turned down Kubrick.