Encino Man (1992)

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Three out of ten stars is me being generous. Its taking me a long time to watch Encino Man, like I'm watching it in bits, not so as to absorb each scene and get the most out of my viewing, but rather I watch it in fits because it sucks to watch Encino Man. It sucks, and yet I am compelled to finish it. It's not a very long movie, I mean it's not some six hour epic, but Lord, it is a real challenge to get all the way through. I was alive and fully conscious when this movie first came out and it was ubiquitous through-out those years, yet I never saw all of the movie, some various element or agent of circumstance stopped me. Even now, when Encino Man is on Netflix and I am trying to watch it all the way through for God-knows-what-reason, I still can't finish it--I have twelve minutes left of movie to watch, longest f*cking twelve minutes of my life.

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.

It took a pre-historic earthquake to bury him in ice, and it took the pre- cursor to the Northridge quake to unleash him from his frozen coffin. Brendan Fraser is at his zany best, putting Sean Astin and Pauly Shore to shame in this teen comedy that quarter of a century later now becomes a very guilty pleasure. The ideal of L.A. valley teenagers remains unchanged from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" days, stereotyping California teens as seemingly eternally high, more stoned than the man from the stone age. Fraser, aka George of the Jungle, really is a blast from the past, and this time, he's not coming out of a bomb shelter. "Some of us pump and some of us slump" is just one very clichéd piece of dialog, spoken by one of the bullies who tapes Astin to the school wall. Back when "selfies" was considered a dorky thing (with good reason), Astin takes one of the threesome, from a Polaroid no less, giving the predictable sight gag towards Fraser involving the flash.My teem years were a period of my life that I am glad to be way past, and in seeing this, I am glad they didn't involve Southern California trends as seen here. Fraser speaks little except to speak in a grunt phrases spoken to him, but he is an absolute comic gem. So I can say that there is a lot to be amused by, but it has the i.q. level of a blank c.d. case. Stereotypical uncool adults look on perplexed by Fraser's behavior, although Mariette Hartley makes for a pretty cool mom. All in all, not bad, but without Fraser, this wouldn't be going in any time capsule.

Dave Morgan and Stoney Brown are two high school outcasts who, while digging in Dave's backyard for a swimming pool, find and thaw out a block of ice containing a man from the Ice Ages.Dave and Stoney try to pass him off as a regular teenager and Link becomes seriously popular at school and this causes Dave and Stoney to become popular in the process.....A total guilty pleasure film from the early nineties. Watching it nearly twenty year5s later, and the film has dated badly, but the whole charm of the film remains.Everybody looks like they are having a good time, and even though Shore looks stoned throughout, you can see why a film company gave him a three picture deal. He's very endearing as stoney, but the rest of his C.V.? nevermind.Astin just reprises his role from the Goonies, and Fraser has the best part of all, getting paid for mumbling and acting inane.The film has the token jock who tries to bring the party to an end, but it's a predictable movie, with it's heart in the right place.