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Year:   1999
Studio: 20th Century Fox/Phoenix Pictures
Movie:  2/5
DVD:    1/5

Teaser

Don't go into the water! Actually, it's ok to go in if you bring a cow...

A man is bitten in half swimming in a lake. A large tooth is found. Is it a prehistoric sea monster? Paleontologist (or whatever she is) Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda) is sent to investigate. Really her boss/ex-boyfriend just wants her out of the way so he can screw her coworker/best friend. Anyway, once she's there she meets up with Forest Ranger Jack Wells (Bill Pullman) and Sheriff Hank Keough (Brendan Gleeson) who want to stop the thing. Just when she thinks this is going to be a routine bug hunt, millionaire wacko Hector Cyr (Oliver Platt) arrives to "swim" with the sea monster, if you know what I mean.

Movie

"Lake Placid" is one of those big monster horror movies that is not horror enough to be scary and not funny enough to be comedy. It just sits in this trough where it's boring. I guess the first time I saw this movie it wasn't so bad but a couple of years later and it's quite bad. David E Kelley, however good he may be as a television writer (and for some reason I don't watch his shows -- just not my genres I guess), he loses something in this screenplay. I don't know what he was going for and if that's the case then this movie missed.

Actors

Bill Pullman. Good actor that can carry roles that have the kind of wry humor that he plays in this movie. No complaints there. Bridget Fonda. Maybe I'm just getting old but she does look better and better as I see her more. I keep thinking she has a funny nose and she's fairly good with that handicap. :-) Oliver Platt I've gotten to respect more and more. Especially when he was on the failed "Queens Supreme" courtroom drama television show. I first remember him in "The Three Musketeers" where it was all "ooh, Oliver Platt is in this movie" and I was "Oliver who?"

DVD

The movie is in letterbox format, which sucks. There is a theatrical trailer and three television commercials. Cast and crew bios at least are narrative rather than short biographies with a listing of credits. There is also a 5-1/2 minute promotional featurette. Overall not impressed.

Recommendations

For goddess' sake, don't watch this movie. It's not horribly bad but it still has very little going for it.
Copyright (c) 2003 Kevin C. Wong
Page Created: November 30, 2003 Page Last Updated: November 30, 2003