Innerspace

Joe Dante – 1987 – USA

Prime specimen of a particular phenomena in 80s movies; the Spielberg-sponsored Spielberg-knock-off. Having branded himself as the premiere auteur of high-end popcorn movies thanks to hits of his own like Jaws (1975) and E.T. (1982), in the 80s he started lending his name, as ‘executive producer,’ to numerous high-concept action-comedies as long as the directors were appropriate surrogates for himself, (i.e. able to replicate his style so that his fingerprint would appear on the film even if he had little to do with it); guys like Robert Zemeckis, Richard Donner and Joe Dante. While not without a flimsy, meager charm, (thanks entirely to Dante’s energy and enthusiasm), Innerspace embodies everything that’s bloated, arrogant and grating about these Spielberg-umbrella productions. The team of lazy screenwriters thought enough to explain the whys and wherefores of a man being zapped by a shrink ray and accidentally injected into Martin Short, and yet they didn’t care that the film abandons and forgets the same rules about as quickly as it introduces it. Wouldn’t it have been easier to skip the “science” of shrinking altogether? Dennis Quaid, standing in for Harrison Ford or Kurt Russell, whom I assume were offered the part first and turned it down, plays the cocky pilot who learns to better appreciate his girlfriend after seeing her through Short’s eyes. As if working from a checklist composed by a committee of studio execs, the film changes gears abruptly from time to time to make way for opportunities for Short to act wacky, for Meg Ryan to act cute, and for various special effects and chase scenes. (SPOILER) The resolution to the three-way romance plot is ludicrous. It’s obvious that Meg Ryan should have fallen in love with Short and ended up with him, while the new-and-improved Quaid should have taken it in stride, wished them well, and resumed his flying career with renewed vigor. All in all, it’s not unpleasant but the clichés are ham-fisted since the film was made by a cast and crew of second-string choices.