Blast from the Past

1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis. The scientist Calvin Webber has built a fallout shelter under his house. When a plane crashes into the house he takes it for nuclear war, locks his family inside and sets the timer for thirty-five years. When the door opens in 1997, Adam, born and raised in the shelter, goes out for the first time. His task is to gather supplies and, if possible, find a wife. A woman named Eve ends up helping him. Hugh Wilson directed. Brendan Fraser plays Adam, Alicia Silverstone plays Eve, Christopher Walken plays Calvin and Sissy Spacek plays his mother Helen. It opened on 12 February 1999. On a 35 million dollar budget it took 40.3 million worldwide, with 26.5 million domestically, and fell short of expectations. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 59 percent, the consensus calling the idea cute but the film not consistently funny. Roger Ebert gave three stars and wrote that it tried for more, with satire and originality. Who it is for: viewers who like fish-out-of-water comedy and jokes at the expense of Cold War paranoia. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the premise to be pushed all the way. The film adds little to the discovery of its first half hour.