The most fiendish trick of John Hughes' filmography is the manner in which he takes patent untruths about society's outcasts (usually within the realm of high school, his preferred battleground) and weaves them into something that successfully deceives the viewer into thinking otherwise. I'm not complaining, since his commitment to character usually overrides all else, making even the most contrived leaps of faith engaging. Unfortunately, his commitment to character takes a turn for the disastrous in "Weird Science," easily his worst film. Two shrill, unlikeable high-school losers, frustrated over their inability to score with chicks, decide to create one of their own (through some laughably awful 1985 computer technology), in the form of vacant Playboy centerfold Kelly LeBrock. But hey: these shrill, unlikeable losers (who would be justifiably subjected to beatings by their own nerdy peers) really just need to face the fact that a little confidence is all it takes to impress the ladies (and stand up to your sadistic, Army-brat brother)! I have come to expect the contrived, 20-minute opening setup that frames the remainder of a Hughes film, but the setup for "Weird Science" is non-existent; in its place is a gimmick: a glut of special effects and out-of-place action (in the third act, a bunch of bikers out of "Mad Max" terrorize our hapless losers) that tears any possible humanity to shreds. It's not spoiling anything to say that the losers get with their respective hotties in the end (and are much more worldly, sensitive guys than the horndogs we first met), but the manner by which Hughes arrives at this conclusion rings so patently false it's infuriating.
Review of Weird Science
