BACK TO THE FUTURE

Back to the Future (1985)
Grade: B+
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson
PREMISE: When Marty McFly tests his friend/mentor's time-travel machine, his adventures turn out to have unexpected and potentially disastrous results.

RATED PG (contains language, some suggestive material, and a brief violent image)

It's clear that the fact that I hadn't seen the Robert Zemeckis/Michael J. Fox sci-fi adventure classic Back to the Future until earlier this evening was inexcusable, especially for a self-professed movie know-it-all like me. How could I not have seen one of the top most popular movies of all time? One of the most lucrative films of the 1980s. The first film in one of the all-time most popular trilogies. A classic that has its own exhibit at Universal Studios, where I was on vacation almost seven years ago.

Well, check that one off the bucket list. I've seen a lot of classic old movies--Gone With the Wind, Casablance, Dr. Zhivago, On the Waterfront, The Godfather, Goldfinger--but, somehow, BTTF had just slipped through the cracks. And now I've seen it. I laughed, I clapped, I jumped, I gasped, I had a great time. I definitely recommend it.

In the spirit of the (astonishing) fact that I knew very little about the movie before I turned it on, this review will be shorter and briefer than my usual entries. In fact, if you're reading this review, you're probably more familiar with Back to the Future than I am, and I just watched it.

It's 1985, and Marty McFly (a fantastic Michael J. Fox) is your typical teenager. He has a cute girlfriend, a car, a band, and a bit of a tough-guy persona. Yet all is not as it seems. He only gets to borrow his parents' car on occasion; he could never afford his dream car. His band is mediocre; his dreams of being a rock star continue on unrealized. His dad (Crispin Glover) is a grown-up loser bullied by his boss (Thomas F. Wilson), and his mom (Lea Thompson) is a boring, dumpy sort who nonetheless seems way out of his dad's league. He often wonders how they got together.

But when Marty's friend, Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd), asks for his help on a new experiment late at night, Marty attends only to find: his friend, a scientist who's long lost any credibility, has created a car that can time travel. And, obviously, to see if it really works, he has to test it.

And that's all I will say of the plot. Sure, just from the title, you probably figured, but that's all I'll say. There, the movie veers from teen rom-com to coming-of-age tale, to rollicking adventure to hilarious farce, all the while keeping a few tricks in its back pocket. Fox, Lloyd, Glover and Thompson all give dynamic, loveable performances (Thompson, in particular, is a scream as a feisty go-getter), and the film, while occasionally on the far side of sappy, does their characters justice. The special effects are good (put in perspective, seeing as this was 1985, they're rock-solid), as are the makeup effects (which have an important role several times over), and the pace is quick. At a shade under two hours, the movie might be a scene or two too long, but it's wildly entertaining all the way. Like I said, I laughed hard.

Back to the Future is a classic for a reason. There's a quartet of delightful, iconic performances, some wonderfully absurd situations and some hilarious lines. It's fun, it's funny, and, even though it's more than 25 years old, it feels fresh. If you haven't seen it, trust me when I say you probably should.

Back to the Future (1985)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale
Rated PG
Length: 116 minutes