Lake Placid (1999)

You won't be disappointed!

Such a frustrating disappointment

Good movie but grossly overrated

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Mysterious attacks in Lake Placid occur. Bridget Fonda heads out to Lake Placid to do research if there is an actual croccodile to be found in this tranquil lake. Bill Pulmann as sheriff protects her from any harm. Will they find anything or is it all a hoax? What follows is a story full of vulgar grannies, hilarious jokes and B movie reptile attacks. Oh yes, and there is also some romance going on.Who made this wonderful "Jaws" clone? Let's start by mentioning the legendary Stan Winston, THE MAN responsible for the terrific "Alien" creatures. He created the croccodile monster in this tale and it don't look scary at all. But then again this is a comedy and although there is some suspense it is mostly of the hilarious kind.I have seen it multiple times now and I keep laughing as hard as the first time. The incredible witty dialogues are to be thanked for that. Quote by a grannie living near the lake to a sherrif: "If I had a d*ck, this is where I would tell you to s*ck it". You gotta see this grannie to really enjoy this altercation with the law that wants to destroy the croccodile while the old grannie wants to cuddle the monster."Lake Placid" is much more than an average comedy. The simple story may deceive upon first look, but a lot of effort went into this picture to make it something special. This comedy truly stands the test of time and what makes it so endearing and hilarious are the terrific dialogues. The characters are credible, however stereotype they may be. The characters and the dialogue are really to die for. And when I can believe in the characters I can enjoy it again and again.At an endnote I wanna mention that lots of wise observations about croccodiles were interwoven in the dialogues. Some amazing TRUE ones: "Croccodiles have been worshipped more than other religions in ancient cultures. People thought croccodiles were godly". Well, they have been around for millions of years and they will probably outlive human beings. However in this flick croccodiles are just great material to make hilarious jokes about, topped with some witty romance with the lovely Bridget Fonda.

Looks like Steve Minor should have gone with the HOUSE sequels after all. His efforts on this lame horror-comedy yarn which lacks bite in every department are wasted, the film is a bore from start to finish, offering up absolutely nothing new to the monster genre. It seems the scriptwriters realised this, so instead they tried to make a comedy, writing tons of 'witty' and 'amusing' dialogue instead; sadly, it didn't work. The script is stale, totally unfunny, and the movie contains some of the most annoying and irritating characters that you'll ever see. It doesn't help that the acting sucks either.The plot goes nowhere in this film, which is why its so (mercifully) short. It seems to have been shot in one location. Bridget Fonda is terrible here, no wonder she never became an A-list actress; truly she is the most irritating, detestable character ever written. The whole point of these movies is to make the audience identify and like the main characters, but the only one who comes away with anything like respect is Brendan Gleeson. Otherwise we have "boring" Bill Pullman as the forgettable ranger and the inane Oliver Platt as a crocodile hunter. Yep, you heard me right.The crocodile itself, designed by Stan Winston, is marvellous, the CGI effects fantastic. Scenes of it eating cows, humans, and bears are great fun and about the only saving grace this film has. A few spots of mild gore go a little way to making it enjoying. Then they ruin things by having the crocodile a 'sympathetic' menace that gets saved at the finale instead of blasted; how lame and stupid is that? Throw in an unbelievable 'twist' and you have a film which some people appear to find funny for some unknown reason.

I came across this spoof of the standard "an underwater beast is eating all the tourists" film on Netflix, so I feel no regret: I did not have to pay extra for it. But I am not kidding, the film is better appreciated under the influence of alcohol-induced euphoria.Bridget Fonda, Bill Pullman, Brendan Gleeson, Oliver Platt and Betty White have fun here. Either that or all these talented actors are slumming. Which I doubt.This genre began way back with The Creature from the Black Lagoon and was best done by Stephen Spielberg in Jaws. The principal conceit is that lake or sea water conceals danger -- you never know what's gonna jump out and get you.Sit back, enjoy and don't take the film seriously.

Spoiler Alert! I caught this film on sci-fi and remember some scenes and I got to tell you I'll always remember the opening scene where the diver gets bitten in half. I like this film for being a cheaper monster film. The sequels were horrible and nowhere near as entertaining as this film. The only thing I didn't like was Bridget Fonda's acting. If she was killed off earlier I think I would of liked it a lot better. I also liked the scene where that guy gets his head bitten off by the gator in all honesty I didn't even see that coming. This really isn't too bad for being a sci-fi film and I give it a 6 out of 10 because it's still the best alligator film I've ever seen.