I was bored yesterday, so I watched Short Circuit through my super-cool XBOX 360 / Netflix feature. I hadn’t seen the film in a long time, and I thought I would log a little time with it. I wasn’t expecting anything great, and of course, the movie isn’t great at all, but it was still enjoyable enough. The acting was bad (Fisher Steven’s character was Apu from the Simpsons before Apu was Apu) and some of the effects looked ridiculous, but if you mentally prepare yourself to overlook its many flaws, I think most people can enjoy it.
The movie raised a few questions for me. For starters, why must Steve Guttenberg and G.W. Bailey always be at odds in 80′s movies? Do they hate each other in real life? Certainly they are professionals, but I think it would be hard off to turn off those emotions. G.W. Bailey has spent months…no, years of his life pitting himself against Steve Guttenberg in various movies only to be stymied at every turn. I know that he most have some antipathy towards Mr. Guttenberg. Then again, Mr. Bailey has arguably had the better career, so he probably sleeps well at night. And speaking of Steve Guttenberg, who thought it would be a great idea casting him as some kind of robotic genius? This was the most implausible casting choice ever.
Oddly enough, Dimension Films has picked up the rights to re-make Short Circuit. This is ridiculous to me, since while Short Circuit isn’t terrible, it isn’t worthy of a re-make. So, if it gets the green light, I guess we can look forward to Johnny Five living again.
