Memoirs Of An Invisible Man

Since I've been writing a lot about Chevy Chase lately, I thought it only fitting to talk about when Chevy teamed up with one of my favorite fimmakers, John Carpenter. The result was 1992's sci fi, action comedy Memoirs Of An Invisible Man.

Chase stars as stock analyst Nick Halloway. A hungover Nick has to attend a boring shareholder's meeting at a lab. Barely able to keep his eyes open, Nick ducks out and catches some zzz's in an empty office. While he's dozing, there is a malfunction in the lab and everybody, except Nick evacuates. The malfunction causes the building and Nick to become invisible. A shady CIA agent, Sam Neill arrives on the scene and tries to capture Nick. Not wanting to be a CIA guinea pig, Nick escapes and turns to Alice, Darryl Hannah, for help. Her and Nick met at the bar the night before and had an instant attraction. The CIA is hot on the couples trail and Nick will need to use his new condition to stay ahead of them.

Like I said earlier, Carpenter is one of my favorite directors. This isn't one of his best, but it's still an entertaining film. Supposedly he butted heads with the studio. He usually has his name above the title of his films, but he didn't have final cut and knew the studio would monkey with the final product. That is why it's not John Carpenter's Memoirs Of An Invisible Man.

Carpenter wasn't the first choice to direct. Ivan Reitman was originally going to helm this picture, but he and Chase constantly argued and Chase had him fired. Legendary screenwriter William Goldman was slated to write the movie, but when the tensions started, he dropped out. Chase wanted this to be more of a dramatic turn for him, but Reitman wanted to play up the comedy. In the end though, Chase lost out when the studio marketed as more of a comedy than drama. That being said, Chase is really good in this. As is Neill who makes a good bad guy. Hannah doesn't have much to do other than be the love interest.

The special effects in this are pretty amazing. There's scenes involving the invisible Chase in the rain and a scene where Hannah is applying makeup to him that are very cool.

I think this is a pretty nifty sci fi film. Not Carpenter's best, but still enjoyable.

It's available on dvd through Warner Archive.