Weird Science (1985) Review

Title: Weird Science 
Year: 1985
Director: John Hughes
Country: US
Language: English

So many immature comedies from the 1980's have dated terribly & don't work well in 2020. Porky's (1981), for instance, comes off as repulsive and date rapey rather than charming (if it was ever considered "charming"). I've heard of Weird Science (1985) but was hesitant to watch it because, well, it has to be ridiculously misogonistic, no? I couldn't imagine this film appealing to the #metoo crowd. Surprisingly, it's far more tame than I expected. 

Two high school nerds (Anthony Michael Hall & Ilan Mitchell Smith)  use a computer program to literally create the perfect woman (Kelly LeBrock), but she turns their lives upside down.

What would YOU do if you created the perfect woman? Take her dancing, show her off to your parents and uh...go to the mall? Huh? I think my perverted expectations were too high; I expected more Russ Meyer and less, well, John Hughes. Weird Science (1985) is a warm-hearted, well rounded picture but its basic horny premise is wasted with this PG-13 rating. I opened my review complaining about how tasteless Porky's is, but I have to admit this film needed more sleaze to be satisfying. 

The "perfect" woman is no doubt, drop dead gorgeous, but it's a bit creepy (in a freudian context) the way she acts like their mother. Instead of the boys learning their lesson about treating women with more respect on their own, through their own mistakes, the "perfect" woman needs to scold them and insist that they generally be more brave. What does the lesson have to do with the plot? I have no clue. At some point killer mutants show up and wreck a party that the boys didn't even want. "You need to be more popular". Too many half-baked "lessons". 

Weird Science (1985) is quite a bit of fun, if you don't mind shutting your brain off. It's not as meaningful as Hughes other films, like Breakfast Club, and, I feel, doesn't do enough with its gimmick. There's a much better movie lurking in here, but Hughes wasn't the one to bring it to full form.