MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN

(director: John Carpenter; screenwriters: book by H.F. Saint/William Goldman/Robert Collector/Dana Olsen; cinematographer: William Fraker; editor: Marion Rothman; music: Shirley Walker; cast: Chevy Chase (Nick Halloway), Daryl Hannah (Alice Monroe), Sam Neill (David Jenkins), Michael McKean (George Talbot), Stephen Tobolowsky (Warren Singleton), Pat Skipper (Morrissey), Jim Norton (Dr. Bernard Wachs), Gregory Paul Martin (Richard), Paul Perri (Gomez), Patricia Heaton (Ellen), Rosalind Chao (Cathy), Jay Gerber (Roger Whitman); Runtime: 94; MPAA Rating: PG-13; producers: Bruce Bodner/Dan Kolsrud; Warner Bros; 1992)

“It stumbles along as a low-rent ripoff of James Whalens’s classic of the The Invisible Man.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A modest sci-fi/spy comedy directed as if merely a special effect B movie by John Carpenter (“The Thing”/”Assault on Precinct 13”). It’s based on the acclaimed first book by H. F. Saint. The almost nothing script is by William Goldman, Dana Olsen and Robert Collector. It lacks wit, humor or art, as it stumbles along as a low-rent ripoff of James Whalens’s classic of The Invisible Man (1933). Nick Halloway (Chevy Chase) is the goof-off San Francisco stock analyst, who turns invisible after a freak accident in an office building nuclear lab site. The venal CIA operative (Sam Neill) and his rogue team try to capture the Invisible Man for themselves as a valuable asset to get rich on and fail to tell the higher-ups about him. Fleeing from the ruthless agent, Nick trusts only Alice (Daryl Hannah), an attractive documentary filmmaker he just met through his workplace colleague George Talbot (Michael McKean). A major flaw in the film is that Chevy Chase as the serious hero doesn’t work, even if his comic antics sometimes does. Unfortunately he’s asked to do both here and to carry the film, but doesn’t have the heft to. The rest of the cast are either one-dimensional characters or give lethargic performances.

REVIEWED ON 1/19/2017 GRADE: C+