Bruce Payne as Dogger
in
Solarbabies
If you knew that
Solarbabies was produced by
Mel Brooks’ company, Brookfilms, but hadn’t yet seen it, you would
probably think that it was going to be a comedy. You would think wrong.
The only thing intentionally funny in this film is Bruce Payne and
Alexei Sayle as two bumbling bounty hunters. Solarbabies is a post-apocalyptic,
anti-authoritarian teenage science fiction tale on roller
skates.
Sort of a Mad Max Over Thunderdome
meets Rollerballs but not
nearly as entertaining as either. We found it watchable but painfully
derivative. It was sweet and well-intended—who could ever object
to the theme of individual freedom winning over the forces of
despotism—but wonder who they thought the audience was. Most teenagers
would scoff at the simplistic plot and cartoon characters. And that
talking glowing ball of light. Oh, come on. Even teenage heart throb
Jason Patric was pretty flat and boring in this one. Jamie Gertz, later
to appear in Silence Like Glass
with Bruce, was a bit more interesting but not much.
If you were to
read the reviews, you would find that most of the smart-aleck remarks
that could be made about this movie already have been. Like how come in
a desert racked by severe water shortage, the cement paths that ever so
conveniently allow the main characters to whiz around on their inline
skates at breakneck speed (a) exist at all, and (b) are not cracked
from the heat. Doesn’t leave us much to smart off about. Darn.
Actually—and this is really true,
not just our
bias—the most entertaining part of the film is Bruce and Alexei as the
two smelly, dirty, ratty and dumb, dumb, dumb bounty hunters, Dogger
and Malice. Singing “I stink, therefore I am…I stink, therefore I am,”
they add a much needed comic note to this otherwise fairly flat
movie. Hanging out looking for possible escapees from the teenage
prison camp—oops, we mean orphanage—Dogger (Bruce) thinks he is being
ever so clever when he proclaims, “All I want is a summer job,
daddy,
just a summer job.” It’s hard for Bruce fans to imagine the
gorgeous Mr. Payne looking and acting like a doofus but Bruce’s acting
skills are up to the challenge, as the accompanying pics show.
However, don't blink or sneeze because you might miss this unsavory but
hilarious pair. They're only onscreen for a few minutes, much to our
regret.
This film,
however, does serve our purposes because it demonstrates that Bruce can
hold his own in the laugh department with one of our favorite British
comic actors, Alexei Sayle. The two will, of course, be paired
together
again years later in the TV comedy/drama Keen Eddie, to many watchers’
delight. The man who thrilled us as Jurgen and chilled us as
Charles Rane can also make us guffaw. We’re not surprised.
©
Copyright 2004 and 2007 by Bruce's Angels
