The Stuff (1985)
3/10
This Ate My Brain
22 July 2015
There may be a good movie lurking in here somewhere, but I didn't see it. The main problem comes in a total lack of focus. It can't decide what it wants to be. If it's a comedy, it's not funny. If it's sci-fi, there's no actual description of what The Stuff is.

It's one great big WTF from the beginning. The Stuff, with no warning or catalyst, bubbles up out of the ground and some dumbass decides to eat it. That's the basis of your movie? Perhaps if you can suspend your disbelief that there are people who'll eat off the ground in the middle of a mine, you can enjoy this. I can't. "B-but it controls your thoughts so..." Fine. Why hadn't it done so already? What's the catalyst? Where's the back story? Or where's the explicit acknowledgment that this whole thing is one big goof?

From here on out, you're at the mercy of some of the dumbest plotting I've seen. Mo just walks into the middle of commercial shoot and shuts it down and no one really complains. Nicole, plausibly, wants to do a background check on Mo but, even though there's plenty of time, never gets the result. Instead, she implicitly bangs Mo within five minutes of meeting him. Jason's family are sociopaths and the worst parents ever. Apparently, it's the only way the scriptwriters could show the mind control aspect of The Stuff. Mo casually tells Nicole that he's an industrial spy and she just accepts that with no sense of betrayal, disappointment or any emotion at all. Don't get me started on continuity.

What turns this into a tragedy is that the actors all seem to be enjoying themselves. Moriarty does the hick bit perfectly. Marcovicci, stunningly beautiful, lifts her write-off character above the one-dimensional script. Sorvino rocks it as always. Sadly, the script, direction and editing conspire against their good intentions to turn this into something that MST3K would pass on.
15 out of 24 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed