Re: The Wing Kong Exchange
Scott Howard just wants to stand out among the crowd in his small town and at his high school. He soon gets his wish, though not quite the way he wanted to, when he discovers that he is a werewolf. Initially he's hesitant to tell anyone, but when he discovers that he can use the powers of the wolf to be a better athlete, and to become popular, he's only too eager to transform. Soon he's the most popular kid in school, but will it cost him his friends and his soul?
1985's Teen Wolf is pretty fluffy fare, typical of the time in which it was released. It's nothing special, the story is fairly mundane and the logic goes right out the window most of the time. While it tries to come across as a more socially conscious film that examines the trials and tribulations of growing up and the social acceptance that comes along with that, more often than not it descends into simple comedy. In fact, it doesn't even really understand the type of film it wants to be and goes all over the place, bordering on the absurd at times. Hell, even the supposed teenagers are all played by people who are well into their adulthood, while the adult figures are all over the top caricatures. Why then is it such a fantastic movie that one can watch over and over again? Some may point to Michael J. Fox's performance in the lead role, as he is certainly charismatic, while others may simply look it as a nostalgic snapshot of a simpler time. Regardless of why it works, the fact remains that it does. For all the faults it has, Teen Wolf is one hell of an entertaining film that somehow sticks with you long after you've seen it.
"And you thought a couple of zits were a big problem!"
The film is directed by Rod Daniel (who is also known for doing other light-hearted pieces such as K-9 and Beethoven's 2nd) and written by Jeph Loeb (who also wrote Commando as well as several popular Batman comics like The Long Halloween) and Matthew Weisman (Loeb's frequent writing partner), the film isn't a horror, comedy or drama. Rather its sort of a bizarre amalgam of those genres that, for the most part, falls flat on its face. Daniel's direction is all over the place and its clear he's more comfortable in the television field (where he got his start) than in features. Meanwhile Loeb and Weisman's script is seriously flawed and lacks logic at nearly every turn. For instance, why is it that students from the same school play on different high school basketball teams? For that matter, why is everyone so cool with a freaking werewolf hanging around with them? I mean, if it was me, I'd probably be running the other way, but then again I'm a thinker. Suffice to say, the film has its fair share of issues, and we haven't even gotten to the acting yet.
"He may be a little weird, but his name is Stiles, so its cool."
Michael J. Fox is actually quite good in the lead role, and really does do a lot with the character considering its limitations. I mean you can only deliver dialogue like "it didn't pass me by, it landed on my face" with a certain level of dramatic flair, yet Fox manages it well. Thankfully he's featured in the film a lot, because most of the rest of the cast stinks. While I love the character of his friend Stiles, the actor, Jerry Levine, is horrendous. Luckily he married the president of CBS Entertainment so he didn't have to rely on his acting skills to get by! James Hampton (who generally pops up in pretty bad movies I end up loving, like Condorman and Hangar 18) plays Fox's father decently, but he's got all the charisma of your standard head of lettuce. It's not Hampton's fault most of the time though, again his dialogue is just brutal. The females pop in for some eye candy, which is good because they're also horrible actresses. Let's put it this way, one is named Boof (for real) and the other one can't even act as an actress (in an unbelievably awful scene where she's rehearsing for the school play). Luckily this film does have one other character going for it, that being the awesome movie douchebag, Mick McAllister. The actor who plays him, Mark Arnold, isn't amazing or anything, but the character is among the best 80's scumbags and Arnold gives him a certain flair. So hey, a few great characters and a couple of chicks? Sounds good to me, and more importantly, it allows us to forget how insane their dialogue is!
[video=youtube;xjhh5xqAc0I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjhh5xqAc0I&feature=related[/video]
Hit play up there and be prepared to be blown away. If there is one thing, just one, that Teen Wolf has in the plus column, its that absolutely rocking 80's song by Mark Safan. I could honestly listen to that song all day and, true story, its on my workout playlist alongside other 80's classics like "You're the Best" and "Eye of the Tiger". Other than that, there are a couple of other crazy things to recommend in this film. One would be the completely insane "party" that the teenagers attend, that includes whipped cream bondage (unfortunately my own high school experience did not include parties like this) and the awesome basketball scene at the end, which sends us home happy. The thing with 80's movies, or many of them anyway, is that they're about losing before winning. This is a central theme in Teen Wolf as well, and for all its faults, it does handle that aspect pretty well. It also manages to be a little different than the standard "growing up sucks" films that were popular at the time, so it does have that going for it as well. I guess there's just no simple answer as to why it works given all its problems, but as I said earlier, it most certainly does. I can watch Teen Wolf anytime and always be entertained by it, and the film will always carry a certain amount of nostalgia for someone like me who grew up in the time of its release. It might represent every problem a film can have, but if the end result was Teen Wolf every time, it would be advisable for more young filmmakers to follow its example.
"And now, the moment of truth."
Teen Wolf ended up grossing over $33 million at the box office and also spawned a short-lived television cartoon and, eventually, a new spin-off television series. Oh, it also had a sequel, quaintly titled Teen Wolf Too, which starred Jason Bateman. If you can think of how bad Teen Wolf would be without Michael J. Fox, you've pretty much figured out how I feel about that particular sequel. At the end of the day, Teen Wolf is a movie that should totally fail, and actually even does, yet as I've said multiple times, its still a great piece of entertainment and a film everyone should give a chance to. Besides, its only 91 minutes of your life, which is more than enough time to enjoy watching Michael J; Fox do a handstand on top of a van while "Surfin' USA" plays in the background.
6.5/10.
"Ultra-douche says goodbye, see you soon folks."
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