Un cavernícola adolescente

I expected the usual stoner-gross-out-high-school-comedy and had also heard that Pauly Shore was a comedic one-trick-pony (I'd read about all those Razzies he had been awarded). Also, the premise of high-school kids finding a thawed-up "cro-magnon" man and becoming friends with him didn't bide well, so I kind of watched this out of completism and deep-rooted cinematic masochism. Turns out I was way off the mark. "Encino Man" is thoroughly enjoyable, and one of the best movies of its genre. And Pauly Shore is my god now, he really made this movie. Well, he may be a one-trick-comedian, but at least at he's the godfather of this one trick. The stoner-surfer-dude has been done ad nauseam in high-school comedies, but Pauly Shore is the stoner-surfer-dude to rule all other stoner-surfer-dudes. His figure is not just funny and dude-ish, but also eccentric and frail (almost a bit camp). When I read that he comes from a family of comedians, I wasn't surprised. I see a lot of comedic and dramatic talent in him, and it's a shame that he seems to have fallen out of favour recently.

Anyway, the movie. Luckily, the pretty goofy plot doesn't put it in harm's way. Two likable social dropouts find a stone age survivor in their back yard, and decide to smuggle him into their school in order to heighten their own peer standing. This goes terribly awry when the hunky pre-human becomes a hit with the ladies. Man seems to be set in atavistic struggle against pre-human (and stoner dude), but luckily they eventually find their moral bearings: the humans learn the benefits of sticking together from their thawed-out friend, and the cro-magnon learns to go "halfies" on his microwave burrito.

Like I said, I really enjoyed Pauly Shore here. He made this movie. The other actors are also good, there's great dialogue, and the babes are babe-alicious. I also enjoyed the fact that the underdogs were the protagonists here.

To give you a ballpark comparison, it's au pair with Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Yes, it's that good, buuuh-dy.

Encino Man is a comedy influenced by the wackiness of the grunge generation. The young cast, which stars Astin, Shore, and Fraser, is likely to be a major draw for teenagers and younger viewers, who will likely enjoy this movie.

The story is pretty goofy. Dave (Sean Astin) has major plans for putting a swimming pool in his backyard to at least get some popularity points with the neighborhood teens who could lounge by the water in the blazing California summer sun. But, when he's breaking ground, he digs up a block of ice with a casualty of the Ice Ages, primitive fellow who he and his hip buddy, Stoney (Pauley Shore), clean off and try to disguise him as a regular American teenager. Needless to say, a lot of mishaps arise out of this. But eventually, the grizzly Link (Fraser), is a pretty popular kid at the high school, and one that Dave thinks will help him get popular, too, in that popularity-by-association kind of way.

Matt Wilson, a jerky jock (Michael DeLuise) interferes with Dave's plans to just try and pass off Link as a normal exchange student. Already p***ed with Dave and Stoney for getting friendly with his girlfriend Robyn (Megan Ward), and with their increasing popularity--especially Link, who Robyn has a little crush on. Matt figures out Link's real identity, and it's a question of whether anyone will believe his story that Link is really from the Ice Ages. Not even the school's most popular jerk can get off easy with a line like that.

The cast and this silly story make it an enjoyable comedy. Teens are likely to enjoy Pauley Shore's scenes as the happy-go-lucky hippie throwback friend, Stoney, as he just seems like such a nice, giant goofball who can really have fun with this material. It's also pretty funny to watch a fellow from the Ice Age trying to adapt to modern teenage life, much like the historical dudes did in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. It's even got some sweet tunes on the soundtrack. So loosen up and enjoy it already.

I Mean that literally!

I was going through a rough time in my life, and Encino Man was the only thing that could make me laugh!

Brendan Fraser was terrific, and I even learned how to like Pauly Shore after this movie...who up to this point I couldn't stand!

I saw it 8 (yes, that's EIGHT) times at the theatre in a four week period when it was out, and have watched it dozens of times since on video. Despite it's absurd premise, the movie worked for me, in the relationships that developed between Link, Dave, and Stoney, and the little family the three of them made.

It's goofy, it's at times stupid..and it's all around FUNNY! Just one of those little movies that if you will allow yourself to put reality on hold for 90 minutes, it can and will charm the socks off of you.

When they find a frozen caveman (Brendan Fraser) in their back yard, two high school outcasts thaw him and introduce him to modern life while he in turn gets them to actually enjoy life.

Pauly Shore made some okay movies and some bad movies. This one, along with "Bio-Dome", is an okay movie, or maybe even good. Then it starts going downhill from "Son-in-Law" to "Jury Duty" and we try to forget everything else. Shore was sort of a one-note joke, and because he was not able to grow beyond that, he kind of faded away.

This film works well because Fraser captures the caveman thing really well, but even more so it is Sean Astin who saves the day. By playing the straight man, he keeps the Fraser-Shore antics grounded, and his role should not be understated.

When I was in high school my friends and I watched this movie every afternoon for one whole summer. We memorized all the lines and would tell people not to tax our gigs so hard-core, Crusters. I totally disagree that this is a "Man's Movie". I think it's more of a "feel like you're in high school again movie". Brendan Fraser is HOT and if I liked girls, I'd think that the girls were too. Sean Astin's character, Dave, is a geek and will remain a geek because he can't get over his popularity issue. Stoney is cool because he says and does the unexpected. There's all kinds of editing errors and sometimes it doesn't make a whole lot of sense but I don't care. It's super-lame but it's fun to watch and fun to recite and I don't think I'll ever get sick of it. But then again, I could ride the Vapor in reverse all day long...