Encino Man
You never know what you'll find when you dig in your own backyard...maybe a caveman. Encino Man is a comedy about a pair of unpopular high school seniors--the nebbish Dave (Sean Astin) and the jive-spewing hippie/stoner/skater type of unabashed weirdness who goes by "Stoney" (Pauly Shore). Dave is overly concerned with becoming popular and winning the heart of Robyn (Megan Ward). Dave's extreme plan--and not in the Stoney definition of extreme--to achieve this is to dig his own swimming pool in the backyard. Surprisingly, Dave discovers a caveman frozen in ice--who he dubs "Link" (Brendan Fraser)--and believes he has found his own key to coolness.
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Encino Man is a movie of its time (1992), and is as loud about it as Stoney's neon and tie-dyed outfit choices. From the alternative rock posters in Dave's room--including Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tone-Loc--to the outrageous, "totally rad" clothes, Encino Man looks to capitalize on its demographic of young teens with silly antics and wacky scenarios. The film is also injected with MTV-era elements--not least of which is then MTV "VJ" Pauly Shore assailing the audience with his constant barrage of weird slang that is somewhere between street lingo and baby talk. (I'd almost suggest putting on the subtitles to try to interpret just what Stoney blurts out at virtually every turn, but I think that might only make it worse.) The opening scene that depicts Link being encased in ice resembles Quest for Fire, but the film quickly shifts into a tone more akin to Wayne's World, and stays there. The best comedy moments in Encino Man come from Brendan Fraser as Link. He thaws out from his massive ice cube courtesy of a barrage of space heaters, while propped up on some sawhorses in the garage. Covered in clay and dressed in a skimpy loincloth, Link stumbles around the backyard of this California suburban home, terrorizing the mailman and trying to hunt a garbage truck which he mistakes for a woolly mammoth. Dave and Stoney return home to discover crude "artwork" all over the walls, and they find him trying to start a fire in Dave's bedroom with some sticks, and setting off the fire alarm in the process. It's Stoney's quick thinking with a Bic lighter gives them the edge to chill the caveman out (in the Stoney sense of the word, in this case)--"fire good". Dave quickly comes up with the idea to hide Link in plain sight by camouflaging his newfound amateur archaeological discovery as a foreign exchange student from "Estonia". But Dave is really only interested in trying to make him act "normal", while simultaneously trying to discover a way to take advantage of Link's popularity for his own benefit.
Dave is borderline neurotic when it comes to trying to fit in with the "cool kids", and his excessive efforts to get Robyn's attention make her visibly uncomfortable. To make matters worse, Robyn is going with a real jerk named Matt (Michael DeLuise), who is defensive about Dave's interest in Robyn, and bullies the meek and heartstruck teenager. It's hard to sympathize with Dave that much, because he shares some problematic character flaws with Matt. For example, he is obsessed with what other people think of him, and that's a huge turnoff for girls like Robyn. Dave treats Link like a trained monkey--he even refers to him this way at one point--and it becomes clear that Dave has a lot of growing up to do when it comes to being a friend--both to Link and to Stoney. On the other hand, Stoney is eager to help Link acclimate to his new environment. He doesn't force him into being something he isn't, and is a real friend to him. (It's a weird, weird world where Pauly Shore is the moral center of the movie, but there it is.) He shows Link his version of the world of Encino; he takes him to an amusement park, teaches him about the "food groups", and is much better than Dave at managing the assorted crises that arise from Link's frequent moments of culture shock. It should come as no surprise that Link ends up taking after Stoney more than Dave--they dress the same and even start to talk the same (oh, the humanity). There is no small degree of irony when Stoney tries to heat up a frozen burrito in the microwave--a metaphor for Link himself--and teaches him how to share. While Dave is obsessed with what other people think of him, Stoney is the complete opposite. But it's important to note that Stoney befriended Dave; just as Link needs help with finding his way, Stoney sees this in his "bud-dy" Dave, and has taken it as his mission to help him find his true path as well.
Encino Man is an unquestionably silly movie, so much so that there are times when you can practically see the actors smirking. (Take a close look at Dave and Stoney's faces after they discover the frozen Link in the bottom of the would-be pool after an aftershock from an earthquake, and bang on the windows of the house to try to get the attention of Dave's mom.) Encino Man has a couple of scenes featuring a science teacher who conveniently happens to talk about the Cro-Magnon man (like Link), as though the filmmakers felt guilty about making a movie that was otherwise little more than a series of juvenile set pieces. These include a montage of Pauly Shore and Brendan Fraser running around in weird clothes, riding roller coasters, and harassing a costumed panda, or another montage of Dave and Stoney trying to clean up the million year old crustiness off of Link, which serves as an excuse to play such groanworthy pop songs as "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred. Or the physics-defying student driving lesson Link does as Robyn is inexplicably in the backseat of the car--his only experience at driving comes from playing an arcade game at the hockey rink, which is somehow where all the "cool kids" hang out. Even Michael DeLuise royally hams up his performance as the big jerk on campus, with his ridiculously cheesy "Shoosh" exclamations--his shaking head of disapproval has become immortalized on the internet as the "Denied Encino Man" meme. All of this campy goofiness and even sometimes dumb humor might be a shortcoming in another film; in Encino Man, it adds to the film's cult appeal. When I was a young pre-teen, I remember renting Encino Man over and over, laughing at jokes I barely got, and chuckling at all of the silliness, Pauly Shore's goofy behavior, and so on. It's probably true that I was the right audience for the film at that age; but isn't the whole point of Encino Man to get over trying to appease other people's expectations of you and to just enjoy something you like, no matter how ridiculous it may seem? Food for thought (meat group).
Recommended for: Fans of a silly and goofy comedy, whose antics and Nineties-laden vibe have given it a cult movie status. Encino Man also offers a valuable lesson about being yourself, even if it is buried beneath all the camp. (To be fair, you're probably going to get more out of this flick by just enjoying it for its superficial wackiness than in looking for the spiritual deep end in this pool.)
Dave is borderline neurotic when it comes to trying to fit in with the "cool kids", and his excessive efforts to get Robyn's attention make her visibly uncomfortable. To make matters worse, Robyn is going with a real jerk named Matt (Michael DeLuise), who is defensive about Dave's interest in Robyn, and bullies the meek and heartstruck teenager. It's hard to sympathize with Dave that much, because he shares some problematic character flaws with Matt. For example, he is obsessed with what other people think of him, and that's a huge turnoff for girls like Robyn. Dave treats Link like a trained monkey--he even refers to him this way at one point--and it becomes clear that Dave has a lot of growing up to do when it comes to being a friend--both to Link and to Stoney. On the other hand, Stoney is eager to help Link acclimate to his new environment. He doesn't force him into being something he isn't, and is a real friend to him. (It's a weird, weird world where Pauly Shore is the moral center of the movie, but there it is.) He shows Link his version of the world of Encino; he takes him to an amusement park, teaches him about the "food groups", and is much better than Dave at managing the assorted crises that arise from Link's frequent moments of culture shock. It should come as no surprise that Link ends up taking after Stoney more than Dave--they dress the same and even start to talk the same (oh, the humanity). There is no small degree of irony when Stoney tries to heat up a frozen burrito in the microwave--a metaphor for Link himself--and teaches him how to share. While Dave is obsessed with what other people think of him, Stoney is the complete opposite. But it's important to note that Stoney befriended Dave; just as Link needs help with finding his way, Stoney sees this in his "bud-dy" Dave, and has taken it as his mission to help him find his true path as well.
Encino Man is an unquestionably silly movie, so much so that there are times when you can practically see the actors smirking. (Take a close look at Dave and Stoney's faces after they discover the frozen Link in the bottom of the would-be pool after an aftershock from an earthquake, and bang on the windows of the house to try to get the attention of Dave's mom.) Encino Man has a couple of scenes featuring a science teacher who conveniently happens to talk about the Cro-Magnon man (like Link), as though the filmmakers felt guilty about making a movie that was otherwise little more than a series of juvenile set pieces. These include a montage of Pauly Shore and Brendan Fraser running around in weird clothes, riding roller coasters, and harassing a costumed panda, or another montage of Dave and Stoney trying to clean up the million year old crustiness off of Link, which serves as an excuse to play such groanworthy pop songs as "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred. Or the physics-defying student driving lesson Link does as Robyn is inexplicably in the backseat of the car--his only experience at driving comes from playing an arcade game at the hockey rink, which is somehow where all the "cool kids" hang out. Even Michael DeLuise royally hams up his performance as the big jerk on campus, with his ridiculously cheesy "Shoosh" exclamations--his shaking head of disapproval has become immortalized on the internet as the "Denied Encino Man" meme. All of this campy goofiness and even sometimes dumb humor might be a shortcoming in another film; in Encino Man, it adds to the film's cult appeal. When I was a young pre-teen, I remember renting Encino Man over and over, laughing at jokes I barely got, and chuckling at all of the silliness, Pauly Shore's goofy behavior, and so on. It's probably true that I was the right audience for the film at that age; but isn't the whole point of Encino Man to get over trying to appease other people's expectations of you and to just enjoy something you like, no matter how ridiculous it may seem? Food for thought (meat group).
Recommended for: Fans of a silly and goofy comedy, whose antics and Nineties-laden vibe have given it a cult movie status. Encino Man also offers a valuable lesson about being yourself, even if it is buried beneath all the camp. (To be fair, you're probably going to get more out of this flick by just enjoying it for its superficial wackiness than in looking for the spiritual deep end in this pool.)