Blast from the Past (film)

Blast from the Past
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Hugh Wilson
Screenplay by	Hugh Wilson Bill Kelly
Story by	Hugh Wilson
Produced by	Hugh Wilson Amanda Stern Renny Harlin
Starring	Brendan Fraser Alicia Silverstone Christopher Walken Sissy Spacek Dave Foley
Cinematography	José Luis Alcaine
Edited by	Don Brochu
Music by	Steve Dorff
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	February 12, 1999 (1999-02-12)
Running time	112 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$35 million
Box office	$40.3 million

Blast from the Past is a 1999 American romantic comedy science fantasy adventure film directed and co-produced by Hugh Wilson, based on a story by Wilson—who co-wrote the screenplay with Bill Kelly—and starring Brendan Fraser, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Walken, Sissy Spacek, and Dave Foley. The film focuses on a man who was born and brought up in a Cold War–era fallout shelter built by his survivalist, anti-Communist father, and emerges into the modern world 35 years later, where his innocence and old-fashioned views put him at comedic odds with others.

The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office disappointment.

Plot

In the San Fernando Valley in 1962, eccentric American scientist Dr. Calvin Webber believes nuclear war with the Soviet Union is imminent so builds a secret fallout shelter beneath his backyard. Alarmed by the Cuban Missile Crisis, Calvin takes his pregnant wife Helen into the shelter.

An F-86 Sabre has an unexpected mechanical failure, crashing into their house above. Calvin assumes the worst so activates the shelter's time-locks for 35 years. As the house was completely destroyed, everyone assumes they were killed, so their property is abandoned.

Adam grows up in the shelter, thoroughly educated by Calvin. Above ground, first a diner opens, then a pizzeria and finally the punk club Purgatory, as the suburb becomes an inner-city ghetto. The young resident Melker works here through all its changes. By 1995, he is a middle-aged alcoholic living in the condemned club.

When the shelter unlocks in 1997, Calvin believes the now-blighted neighborhood is a postapocalyptic wasteland of irradiated mutants. He decides the family must stay underground, over Helen's objections, who has never embraced life in the shelter.

Adam leaves for food and supplies, as Calvin falls ill. On the surface he comes across Melker, who had witnessed Calvin rising through the floor, so believes they are gods. Marveling at the outside world, Adam purchases supplies, but then cannot find his way back.

Trying to sell Calvin's classic baseball cards at a shop, Eve Rustikov prevents the owner from cheating Adam, so is fired. She drives him to a Holiday Inn in exchange for a rare card, but guiltily returns the next morning.

Adam asks Eve to help him get supplies, paying her $1,000 a week, and find a non-mutant wife from Pasadena, California, per Helen's advice. Adam meets Eve's gay housemate and best friend Troy, who gives him advice and a makeover.

Eve and Troy take Adam to a '40s swing-style nightclub to find someone. He attracts several women, including Eve's nemesis Sophie, who speaks fluent French. Jealous, Eve reconnects with her ex Cliff to provoke a fight, relenting when Adam demonstrates his boxing skills (having trained daily with Calvin).

Disgusted, Eve goes home, where Troy tells her Adam left with Sophie. Panicked, she hurries to stop him from sleeping with Sophie when Adam returns, explaining that he politely rejected Sophie's advances, as he could only think about her. They kiss, but when Adam admits the truth about his past and his desire to take her as his wife "underground", Eve asks him to leave, believing he is mentally ill.

Finding the club, where Melker now has a cult worshipping him, Adam returns to Eve's, where she is waiting with a psychiatrist to commit him. Seemily cooperating, Adam escapes, though not before asking Eve and Troy to collect his things and pay his hotel bill.

In his room, Troy and Eve find toiletries and clothing from the '60s and absurdly valuable stock certificates in companies like IBM (which Calvin supposed were "worthless"). They realize Adam was telling the truth.

As Melker and his cult load the shelter, Calvin prepares to seal his family inside again. Troy and Eve do not find Adam at the adult bookstore by the club. As the despondent pair are about to leave, Eve spots him. They share a passionate embrace, then Adam takes her to meet his parents.

Impressed with Eve, Calvin and Helen agree to set the shelter's locks for two months while Adam and Eve make arrangements. Staying for dinner at the shelter, Eve reveals she hails from Pasadena, to Helen's delight.

During this time, Adam and Eve sell the stocks, building his parents a new home in the country, identical to their previous one, and acquire a restored red 1960 Cadillac convertible. They help Melker rebuild the pub into a '50s-themed nightclub after convincing him that Adam is not God.

After mentioning Eve is Ukrainian, Adam reveals to Calvin there had not been an atomic war; a plane crashed in their backyard, the Soviet Union collapsed and the Cold War is over. As Helen calls the boys in for roast, Adam goes in and Calvin secretly plans to build a new fallout shelter. Eve watches while playing with her engagement ring as Calvin takes measurements.

Cast

• Brendan Fraser as Adam Webber, a man who was raised in a fallout shelter
  • Hayden Tank as Adam Webber (age 3+1⁄2)
  • Ryan Sparks as Adam Webber (age 8)
  • Douglas Smith as Adam Webber (age 11)
• Alicia Silverstone as Eve Rustikov, a Ukrainian hobby shop worker that Adam falls for
• Christopher Walken as Calvin Webber, a scientist and the father of Adam who built the family's fallout shelter
• Sissy Spacek as Helen Webber, the mother of Adam and the wife of Calvin
• Dave Foley as Troy, a gay best friend of Eve's
• Joey Slotnick as Melker (credited as "Soda Jerk"), a soda jerk residing in the ruins of a club that the Webber family's house used to be
• Rex Linn as Dave
• Deborah Kellner as Miss Sweet
• Nathan Fillion as Cliff, Eve's ex-boyfriend
• Jenifer Lewis as Dr. Nina Aron, a psychiatrist for the County Family Service Department that tries to have Adam institutionalized
• Cynthia Mace as Betty
• Don Yasso as Jerry
• Carmen Moré as Sophie, a rival of Eve's
• Dale Raoul as Mom
• Scott Thomson as Young Psycho
• Harry S. Murphy as Bob
• Hugh Wilson as Levy
• Bill Gratton as Eve's boss
• Michael Hagiwara as a Japanese Produce Clerk
• Brian Blondell as Mr. Brown, Dr. Aron's associate
• Sonya Eddy as a postal worker that Adam calls a Negro upon first encountering her
• Robert Sacchi as Bogart DJ
• Grant Baciocco as a drunken club goer (uncredited)

Reception

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 58% of 81 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The website's critics' consensus reads, "Cute idea, but not consistently funny". On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 48 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, saying, "the movie is funny and entertaining in all the usual ways, yes, but I was grateful that it tried for more: that it was actually about something, that it had an original premise, that it used satire and irony and had sly undercurrents." Nell Minow of Common Sense Media gave this a film a rate three stars out of five, saying that "leisurely comedy has no surprises or special insights, but it does have attractive performers." Janet Maslin of The New York Times writing that "while this comedy strives for teenage appeal above ground, it's mostly the fallout shelter notion that makes for the laughs." She also noted that the movie "inevitably gives Adam an Eve." GamesRadar+'s Yael Shuv rated the film two stars out of five, stating that "it's quite fun to watch [...]." She criticized the screenplay for "lacks a driving force beyond showing Adam different facets of modern and oh-so-fashionable LA" and the movie "scattered with tired clichés." She also criticized the actors Dave Foley and Alicia Silverstone, calling him "a flat performance that does nothing to liven the weak lines he's been handed" and calls her "still a one-film wonder, utterly clueless on how to play an adult woman." She also describes the movie "Big meets The Brady Bunch meets Back to the Future (reversed)." David Eimer of Empire gave the film a rating of also three stars out of five, saying "a quirky comedy that tugs at the heart and wrings some decent laughs out of its well-worn fish-out-of-water premise."

DVD Talk's Aaron Beierle reviewed the film on the DVD release, calling it "absolutely frustrating, mainly because although it brings an interesting plot to the table, it has absolutely nothing new or fresh to say." He thought that "had [the writers] added some ideas to the story rather than trying to string it along from joke to joke, it might have worked."

Box office

Blast from the Past opened in North American theaters on February 12, 1999, and took in $7,771,066, earning it fifth place at the box office for the weekend. It ultimately made a profit, grossing $40.3 million worldwide against its $35 million budget, despite only grossing $26.5 million within the United States.

Soundtrack

• "A Little Belief" – Celeste Prince
• "Honey Please" – Sonichrome
• "I See the Sun" – Tommy Henriksen
• "I Will Buy You a New Life" – Everclear
• "Round and Round" – Perry Como
• "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" – R.E.M.
• "Mr. Zoot Suit" – Ingrid Lucia And The Flying Neutrinos
• "Political Science" – Randy Newman
• "Pretty Babies" – Dishwalla
• "So Long Toots" – Cherry Poppin' Daddies
• "Trou Macacq" – Squirrel Nut Zippers
• "Drawing Flies" – Soundgarden

See also

• Goodbye Lenin

External links

• Blast from the Past at IMDb
• Blast from the Past at Box Office Mojo
• Blast from the Past at Rotten Tomatoes