Back in 1999, I wasn’t as picky as I am now when it came to movies. I paid to see all kinds of movies back then, regardless of what the genre was or who starred in them. In many ways, it was a simpler time to be a movie fan.
It also helped that movies were way cheaper back then compared to today, so I was able to afford more movies than today. But that’s a whole other story for another day.
Anyways, one of the movies I saw in early 1999 was “Blast From the Past,” starring Brendan Fraser, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Walken, Sissy Spacek and Dave Foley. As you can probably tell, “Blast From the Past” is a romantic comedy. But unlike most rom coms, this a movie that always makes me laugh. I liked it so much in fact, that I ended up seeing it twice on the big screen.
“Blast From the Past” opens with a cocktail party in October 1962 at the home of Calvin (Christopher Walken) and the very pregnant Helen Webber (Sissy Spacek). The night of the party just happens to be the same night President John F. Kennedy speaks on TV to announce that the Soviet have put missiles in Cuba.
An overprotective Calvin sends the party guests home and hurries Helen into an elevator that takes them down to his state of the art bomb shelter. Calvin has everything you can think of in the shelter, he even designed the massive bunker to look exactly like their house.
Then, in a stroke of bad luck, a plane crashes on his house and sends a fireball down the elevator shaft. Convinced the country is now in the middle of a nuclear war, Calvin closes the heavy steel doors and informs Helen that the time locks won’t open for 35 years. Helen has little time to adjust to the night’s events because she realizes she’s in labor. No worries though, Calvin planned ahead for this, and the Webbers are soon joined by a son, named, of course, Adam (Brendan Fraser).
Shortly after Adam turns 35, the shelter’s time locks open, and Helen is eager to go up. Calvin urges caution, and decides to go up first to check things out. Once he’s above ground, Calvin is distraught to discover that his once beautiful neighborhood has been replaced by a run down strip mall containing a bar, a porn shop, and hookers on the sidewalk.
The shock is too much for Calvin, and he has a heart attack on his kitchen table. Helen knows they need supplies if they are to remain in the shelter, but she doesn’t want to leave Calvin’s side. Left with no other choice, she sends Adam to the surface. But things don’t go as planned, and Adam must enlist the help of a girl named Eve (Alicia Silverstone).
The romantic aspect of “Blast From the Past” is your basic boy meets girls stuff. There really is nothing new added to that type of story. But what I love about this movie is some of other stuff we get to see, like: Calvin and Helen watching kinescopes of old Jackie Gleason programs; Calvin’s teaching baseball to Adam; Helen becoming so stir-crazy that she starts using sherry to cope; Melcher (Joey Slotnick) thinking Calvin is God and Adam the son; and Adam’s reaction when he sees the sky for the first time.
These are all simple little scenes in the movie, but I find them hilarious whenever I sit down and watch the movie. There’s even a great dance sequence in a nightclub, and a couple of Nathan Fillion cameos that are pretty funny. And Dave Foley as Eve’s brother, steals all the scenes he is in.
Don’t let the romantic comedy genre fool you: “Blast From the Past” is a funny and entertaining film in all sorts of ways. This is one rom-com that tried to be more, and it’s a shame that it doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
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