California Man

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...

Dave Morgan (Sean Astin) decides to dig his own swimming pool for an end of high school party. Along with his wacky best friend Stoney Brown (Pauly Shore), they find a frozen caveman Link (Brendan Fraser). Dave is in love with his old friend Robyn Sweeney (Megan Ward). However she's now out of his league with douche bully boyfriend Matt Wilson (Michael DeLuise) and dismissive friend Ella (Robin Tunney). Link gets thawed out and tries to adjust to the modern world with the help of the boys. Link becomes the cool new guy in school with Dave and Stoney tagging along.

It's sometimes fun. Pauly Shore is actually likable as the wacky sidekick. Sean Astin is a bit too hyper desperate. Brendan Fraser is great as the wild caveman. It's cute but not hilarious. Director Les Mayfield doesn't have the greatest comedic touch. The movie survives on the wild performances of Fraser and Shore.

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 really like this movie. Maybe its ending is a little predictable, still it's good fun, easygoing and one of these movies you can watch over and over again. The characters are brilliant, Brendan Fraser's performance as an unfrozen stoneage guy in modern California is simply great. my absolute favourite scene is the one in the bathroom - no matter how often i watch it, it always makes me laugh.