Dream Machine

I'm a big Porsche fan, and the car was the best star in this film.

Haim, the now dried up drug abusing child star of the 80's is bland as per usual, and commenting on back up from minor characters/actors would be pointless; needless to say they were all very average. It's a cool movie as a trip down memory lane into the 80's - with some weird clothes, some good shots of the Colorado backdrop and a very harmless albeit mind numbing plot.

All in all, please don't waste your time watching this unless you love 80's movies, Corey Haim, or like myself, love old school Porsches (this one in particular looks great) because life's too short to watch crappy movies.

My review was written in September 1991 after watching the film on Live video cassette.

Wish fulfillment is the theme of this energetic feature, mainly a video title but released theatrically in September in Miami and Denver."Risky Business" clone plays well and should rent well.

With "Fast Getaway" and "Prayer of the Rollerboys" also recently to his credit, Corey Haim makes a convincing young hero in this light action-comedy. Here he's a college freshman in Colorado (pic was made in Utah) who is suffering fraternity hazing.

Highly unlikely plot line has Haim receive the gift of a new Porschee fro Susan Seaforth Hayes after he tunes her piano. Car was a gift to her philandering husband (Jeremy Slate), and Hayes gives the dream machine away in spite.

Their son-in-law, one-dimensional villain Randall England, has murdered Slate after being caught embezzling from their family firm and stashed the corpse in the Porsche's trunk. All hell breaks out as he chases Haim around town trying to get the car (and evidence) back.

As with Tom Cruise in "Risky Business" and the imitative Matthew Broderick hit "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", the premise here is identification with a young hero in possession of a fabulous car while parents are away. Haim uses the vehicle to impress would-be girlfriend Brittney Lewis and to escape handily from both the relentless heavy England and frat pranksters led by Tracy Fraim.

Given a light touch by filmmaker Lyman Dayton, the package is a pleasant diversion. Topicality of pic's key subplot concerning dangerous hazing practice is sidestepped as Fraim successfully humanizes his role.

Cast is solid, with dreamgirl Lewis a striking new face. Stunts and production values are good.

My 3rd or 4th time viewing. I give this a 10 not only because it moves me but also for the fact that it was made with Corey Haim in the star role. Not many studios would cast Corey in 1991 due to reasons that are not mine to explain, but can be researched. I think studios were far too hard on him. I believe disregarding him made his situation worse. He was victimized years prior by people in the industry and when he needed work the most, the same industry turned its back on him. He was a great talent and never got his chance to really reach his potential in film..which if you look at his performances you'll know that the potential I speak of was super high because he had already proved he was an amazing actor. He didn't fail. The industry failed him. This film, while low in budget with mediocre acting (from its supporting cast) is heartwarming in it's charm as it's what I consider to be an extension of 80's teen/coming of age films. The film's demographic is males between 15-23 years of age but not because of naked women or vulgarity but instead for a boys crush for a girl and his dreams of a having a tough and fast car to gain confidence over insecurities. Which this is conveyed in performance perfectly by Haim as there's a subtle and natural shift from shyness and insecurity to confidence and assertiveness after he lucks into owning a Porsche 911 Turbo. There's obvious unbelievable scenarios in the film as well as fun mistakes like the fact of the Porsche supposedly being brand new in 1991, but in fact it's a 1983 model. The film, while targeting boys or men would be enjoyed by girls and/or women because it's good natured and not a so called "locker room" exhibit of male perversion. With all this said, the studio was definitely worried it would be an only female audience as in 1991 Corey Haim was still considered a heartthrob. To make sure to even it's audience, marketing made sure to plaster the Porsche on the films poster and promotional ads...if they hadn't I wouldn't be surprised if the films small straight to video audience of the time would have been primarily female...but for me it's a boy's kind of movie but universally enjoyable to all.

This week, I just thought it would be fun to catch up with Corey Haim, with just having seen the two "Lost Boys" films last week and all. Not that I'm a fan-boy - not by far - but I did like those two Coreys in some films back in my early teen days.

So, I prepared myself for three films starring him. Unfortunately, I picked "Dream Machine" as a first (never seen it before), and it was so godawfully horrible, I just decided to lock Corey back in my closet and let him sober up again first, before I pop in something else of his. But I managed to struggle my way through this film first. I had the impression it desperately wanted to play in the same league as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986) but got caught up in its own delusions. Practically the whole film it wants to be a comedy and near the end it hopelessly tries to be a thriller. The only good thing about "Dream Machine" is the premise: A dead body in the trunk of a Porsche. All the rest fails so badly, it's embarrassing. Even the most for Haim. I can dig him being his young, enthusiastic self, but at least when he comes with some form of directorial guidelines. This clearly wasn't the case in "Dream Machine". So, we have a perfect car, yes, that black Porsche. Haim's perfect girlfriend? Just a blonde chick who hardly has any lines in the film. The perfect murder... almost? Some dude that falls flat on his ass as the villain of the film, trying the whole movie to steal the body back out of the trunk, never really succeeds, and then at the end of the film thinks he's Michael Myers (minus the white William Shatner mask) and mistakes Corey Haim for Jamie Lee Curtis. Don't think they could have made this flick any lamer if they tried. A stupid, unfunny film with a story that leads to nowhere directed by a director that doesn't know how to direct his cast. Great accomplishment!

One last question for Mr. Haim: Who's idea was it to have you smile directly into the camera in that last shot of the movie? Yours or the director's? So not done.

I hope the viewer who regards 'Dream Machine' as one of Corey Haim's finest and the "best movies of the century" was kidding. Undetected sarcasm on my part? I sincerely hope so.

'The Dream Machine' marks the first of a long line of mediocre capers that would plague the rest of Corey Haim's career (except 'Prayer of the Rollerboys' which was surprisingly decent). Here, Haim plays nonchalant college boy, Bernie, who supposes that a cool car will attract his dream girl's attention. Lucky for Bernie, a rich woman aiming to get back at her cheating husband, hastily decides to reward her faithful piano tuner--Bernie--with a gift: a slick Porsche Turbo. However, unbeknownst to the woman, and unfortunate for Bernie, is that her dead husband was murdered and his body was hidden in the trunk. Now, being that in this movie, bodies don't seem to decay or possess a rather foul funk, Bernie is unaware of this. In fact, the oblivious boy has no idea that something suspicious is afoot despite several odd circumstances that arise. In particular, a grizzly man follows him around, desperate to get hold of that body relatively undetected.

This is a low-grade action fizzle as many of Haim's films like this are (see The Double O Kid). Despite being part action, part romantic comedy, this movie fails to offer the viewer much of anything of interest for at least the first forty-five minutes in which the filmmakers take more than enough time to show the immediate problem (i.e. Bernie being in possession of a car and a dead body, and a hit-man finding out that the Porsche is going to be hard to find). After which, and thanks to poor acting by Haim (I loved this kid, too, but it's not exactly sacrilegious to admit the times when he obviously couldn't act well) and the lack of real immediacy and emergency between Bernie and the villain that makes much of the events unconvincing and as a result, inappreciable. To add injury to insult, the soundtrack was unbelievably laughable and sounded more like self-evident songs you would hear in Team America (see the 'date' montage).

Loyal Corey Haim fans, however, should not be disappointed to see their boy in abundance. However, others understanding that Haim's career probably peaked when he was 14 or 15 and never recovered, might expect mediocrity, as will viewers just looking for early 90s b-comedy fluff to pass the time.