My Science Project

There was a trend with the teen comedies in the summer of 1985. They had a nerdy/science fiction theme to them. In the same summer, we had Back To The Future, Weird Science, Real Genius, and Creator. With the exception of Creator, they either became instant hits, or in the case of Real Genius, developed a strong cult following. One that wasn't a hit or a cult classic was My Science Project.

Michael, John Stockwell, is a senior in high school who's only intersted in cars. His trippy science teacher, Dr. Roberts, Dennis Hopper, tells him that he needs to turn in a science project that isn't car related before he can pass his class. To make matters worse, he gets dumped by his girlfriend because of his one track mind. To make her jealous, he agrees to take out Ellie, Danielle von Zerneck, a nerdy wallflower with a huge crush on him. To her dissapointment, he takes her to an airplane burial ground in hopes of finding a class project. The two stumble onto a weird device that has been buried.

Michael's not sure of what it does, but he notices that fuses and batteries get blown, and time stands still in it's presence. He takes it to Roberts in hopes of getting an A and finding out just what it is. Roberts discovers that it's a time portal and it zaps him away and unleashes objects and creatures from the past and future. It's up to Michael, Ellie, Michael's smooth talking friend Vince, Fisher Stevens, and Ellie's nerdy chum Sherman, Raphael Sbarge, to close the portal and save the town.

This was Disney's attempt to cash in on the teen sci fi trend that was happening. Released under their Touchstone banner, My Science Project wasn't quite as good as the other's released that summer. That been said, it's still a fun ride.

The cast is pretty good, especially Hopper and Stevens. Hopper gets to make some nods to Easy Rider and Stevens has some great lines. I think it's kind of funny that Stockwell plays a gearhead in this, and in his previous film Christine he was trying to destroy a car. The supporting cast is pretty good too, with Richard Masur, Barry Corbin, and Ann Wedgeworth. The theme song by The Tubes rocks as well.

Overall, this is a fun film and worth a look.

It's available on dvd and is coming to blu ray next week.