1985’s My Science Project is one of the most 80’s movies I have seen. It may seem strange I haven’t seen it until now but I don’t have any nostalgia for an era I grew up in.
John Stockwell stars as a gearhead who won’t graduate high school if he doesn’t deliver his project for the science class final. Hoping to find technology to pass off as his own, he takes nerd (as in “hot girl they slapped glasses on” kind of “nerd”) Danielle von Zerneck on a “date” to the local Air Force dumping ground. There, they find a mysterious object which, unbeknownst to them, was the engine from a downed UFO.
The centerpiece of the engine is one of those lightning balls that featured in many films and TV shows from this era. When I see one, I’m instantly transported to Spencer Gifts, as the goddamn things were a staple of that store.
The casing around the lightning ball has various panels and levers that alter the surface in ways that reminded me of the box from Hellraiser (yeah, I know its called “The Lament Configuration”, but I’m not trying to sound even nerdier than I already am). Not sure why people in films always feel motivated to continue messing with something that does things like this, but I suspect that says something about human nature. And yet I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t attach a car battery to prongs on the device. For one thing, how do they know the polarity?
Doing this causes odd phenomena to occur, such as the materialization of ancient artifacts and leaps in time. It will eventually be discovered the device is an inter-dimensional portal, at which point it makes their science teacher disappear.
Dennis Hopper plays this, the coolest teacher I never had. He is a former hippie who takes a hit from a nitrous tank in his desk after class is dismissed. I just hope he isn’t teaching the kids to make crystal meth. Hopper seems to be having a blast, and something that sells the movie is everybody in it appears to be having a good time.
Fisher Stevens seems to be having an especially good time in the Fisher Stevens role. There is a bit too much of him here, and his schtick started wearing thin for me. His one-liners hit as much as they miss, but I still laughed a lot, such as when he says he saw an episode of Dynasty where a guy gave a woman “a chihuahua fur coat”.
In the final third, the dimensional vortex has gone bonkers, resulting in past, present and future merging together in the high school. In what is my least favorite part of the movie, Stockwell, Stevens and a nerd they were always picking on end up fighting and killing a Roman warrior, some Vietcong fighters, a T Rex and mutants from the future.
This is the same major flaw as what ruins Red Dawn for me—I refuse to believe untrained high school students can suddenly take out experienced fighters. I guess it helps those fighters are horrible shots. Were their firearms instructors the storm troopers from Star Wars?
And yet, I feel like I’m nitpicking by pointing out such flaws. My Science Project is the typical 80’s movie: action-packed, goofy and full of physical effects. Recommended for anybody who enjoyed similar fare such as Weird Science.
Dir: Jonathan R. Betuel
Starring: John Stockwell, Danielle von Zerneck, Fisher Stevens
Watched on blu-ray