LATE NIGHT MOVIE SERIES: INNERSPACE (1987)
BY JAKE MATHISON/ February 8, 2012
Growing up, the first VCR we owned was a top loading movie muncher. But for the longest time, we had barely any VHS cassettes to feed it. And the only place in town that rented them was a bizarre combination ice cream parlor & porno shop run by a blind couple. So I mostly resigned myself to watching things that had been taped for me by relatives in Minneapolis with cable. I had a copy of Superman II, complete with an interrupting speech from President Reagan (the '80s equivalent of a special feature), and also a partial copy of Innerspace that was missing somewhere between 5-10 minutes of establishing scenes and Dennis Quaid's buttcheeks.
I must have played those tapes until the ribbons tore. And as such, I'm particularly ashamed to admit that I never saw those first few scenes of Innerspace until I happened across a copy caged in some discount bin at Wal-Mart a few years back.
Needless to say, it's still really frakking good. And with the added bonus of those previously unseen (at least to me) first 10 minutes, it's even better. Dennis Quaid buttcheeks and all. It's a badass, sci-fi lite micro-epic. I mean, who wouldn't want to get miniaturized and injected into Martin Short? Yes, the science is ambiguous. Yes, the characters are ridiculous. But you can't go wrong with Quaid's charismatic grin, Short's manic physicality and Robert Picardo as a tech fencing cowboy. And if that's somehow still not enough for you, it's also a pretty good reminder that Meg Ryan used to be hot.
Innerspace is easily Joe Dante's best film (sorry Gremlins), and even as it approaches its 25th anniversary, it remains fresh, stylistically sleek and most importantly, still funny.
Now, where's that Blu-ray Warner Bros.?
BEST LINE: "I'm possessed!" -- Jack Putter (Martin Short)
Innerspace is rated PG, and is available from Amazon on DVD or as a digital download
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