Brendan Fraser stars as Adam Webber. He has spent the first 35 years of his life living in a bomb shelter. His nearly crazy father, a genius, played by Christopher Walken, mistakenly believed that nuclear war had broken out. Mr. Webber, a paranoid scientist, has built a bomb shelter because of the Cuban missile crisis, an event I remember quite well from the early 1960's. In reality, a small plane has crashed in his back yard but Mr. Webber has sealed the shelter for 35 years because he feels that the zombies will have mellowed out by that time. His long-suffering wife, played by Sissy Spacek, is pregnant and Adam is born underground.
When the time locks open, Mr. Webber goes to the surface and finds that a bar has been built over his house. The once placid residential neighborhood has deteriorated into a seamy area filled with porn shops and streetwalkers. Webber thinks that the inhabitants are mutants and can change their sex at will. Don't ask. When he goes back to the shelter he seems determined to set the time locks for another 10 years. Here is the point that he finally steps over the line with Mrs. Webber. The idiot has already turned her into an alcoholic with his delusions. Now she refuses to allow him to keep their son underground. The result is that Adam must go topside to get supplies and hopefully find himself a woman.
One can imagine what it would be like to see the sky for the first time, at age 35. Adam has never seen a car, never had a job, never done much of anything. Yet his folks have prepared him well for certain things. Obviously, values have changed in three decades. When he meets Eve (Alicia Silverstone) it is love at first sight. When he discovers that she is not a mutant, it only reaffirms that she is the girl for him. But when he mentions taking her 'back down in the shelter' she thinks he is a serial killer.
This movie is funny. It is charming and gave me a rush because of all those memorable things from the era in which I grew up. I am afraid that the delusional Mr. Webber reminded me of myself and Mrs. Webber reminded me of Carley, with her patience. The whole thing is just plain good and I have watched it a dozen times. I like it more each time. There is a lot of adult language but I don't recall any nudity. Not that I would notice. All the acting was superb, which normally indicates wonderful directors. Don't miss this one. I bought it for $4.99 at Amazon. (DVD)
From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.
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