No, no, that OTHER thing you do...

Secondarily, I think another of my favorite elements of the movie, while still in the vein of 90's callback, this film felt big. It had the appeal of a fully backed studio film that was meant to be big in theaters. This was a movie that they wanted a crowd at the cinema on a Friday night. They wanted date nights and teenagers looking for something to do with their friends on an aimless weekend evening. It didn't necessarily make the movie as a whole better, but it didn't bother as much with focusing on being a really good movie but it made sure the audience was having fun. There were plenty of hallmark tropes and all the ridiculousness that we had back before the turn of the century. Dialogue didn't have to be convincing or delivered well. There didn't fully need to be a reason for someone to start taking off their clothes or doing something off the wall. We wanted things extreme and how much more wild can you get than bungee jumping off the Eiffel Tower?? Add in Julie Bowen hot off Happy Gilmore success and you've got a real recipe for greatness on your hands!

This is where we pause for a moment and catch our breath. Nostalgia does not create a tidal wave great enough to ride all the way through to the end of the film. And this is where I feel like we can utilize one pivotal part of the movie to stay positive while transitioning into the negative. Let's talk about the werewolves themselves. Look, it was 1997 and CGI was fully a thing by that point. Spielberg already test ran that stuff back in 93 and created a full on dinosaur theme park. This is a studio flick after all. I'll bet we have really impressive, cutting edge technology behind the transformations and on screen presence of some impressive werewolves in this flick, right? I mean, the changing scene in the original American Werewolf in London is pretty iconic for that piece. Certainly we've only improved upon that piece right? Well, maybe we need to tap the brakes just a little bit there. Now, I AM trying my best not to watch these scenes with 2026 eyes. That's where I'll cut them some slack. For '97, I feel like these were pretty good effects. I'm not going to say mind blowing, but it did allow for a lot of on screen werewolf action which the movie kind of hinged on, really. They set a tone pretty early on that this was not going to be a subtle, creeping film where camera angles and different shots were going to present a cohesive build up to a beautiful marriage of brilliant special effects and classically executed practical ones. Combine that with a pretty heavy lean on the CGI throughout the film and eventually what could have been really cool, if handled well, turns into a heavy handed mess.

The other piece I really had a hard time with was the performance we got from Tom Everett Scott. I'm not going to rest the entire thing on his shoulders. He was young and new and it was clear that the studio wanted to cash in on his success from That Thing You Do while still presumably having a pretty inexpensive price tag on his contribution. But having seen what he could do as the cool drummer from the Oneders (NOT the Oh-Nee-Ders) and really help carry a fun but emotional lead role through that film and then see him stumble through many of the scenes in this film was a harsh contrast. That's where I have to imagine the director just didn't know how to really allow Tom to bring some meaningful notes to his character. I think, even with his inexperience, it was clear that his ability was not fully embraced in the role. Additionally, not that the cast outside of Scott needed to be star studded, but it just felt disjointed and flat. Even putting Julie Bowen on screen with him at one point felt forced and unnatural. They seemed like they could have had chemistry but everything was played up for over the top comedy that also, somehow, didn't land at all either. So there was a lot left wanting from what I think we could have actually gotten from the cast as well as a lot left on the field had the casting been just a little tighter. It wasn't egregious, but it's one of those elements that always makes me wonder what could have been if we would have simply tweaked a couple things in one way or another to create a much more appealing presentation.

This doesn't deserve it's own paragraph but I have nowhere else to put it and I have to mention it. Towards the finale of the film, we see Scott's "Andy" go up against the lead big bad wolf, Claude, on a subway. The prelude to this showdown features a werewolf version of Claude rebounding from being hit by a subway train while terrorizing a car full of passengers. They scramble in a terrified chaos, desperately attempting to escape the encounter on the train car by making their way to the next. In the mix of all this, a woman carrying a large paper grocery bag is pushed to the ground and loose oranges come cascading out of her shopping bag. There are a few other items, one of which possibly being some kind of leafy green like a celery or maybe some ruffage of some kind. Could have been the ends of a root vegetable like carrots. But my favorite part is the loose oranges. I don't believe I saw the fresh baguette anywhere, which is odd for a 90's movie with a woman carrying a lone paper bag of groceries, especially in Paris of all places. That's another one of my favorites as well. The propensity of both background and foreground characters to consume fresh baguettes with such perpetual ferocity in film is wonderfully specific. I know there's a reason for it. I've heard people talk about it. I'd have to imagine a bag full of loose oranges is int he same category. But it's just such a ridiculously fun way to showcase some of the dumbest attention to not detail ever. No one has ever bought that many loose oranges in a single trip to the grocer. One bag of groceries means you stopped by for a few essentials on the way home. There's no reason you'd have a dozen loose oranges in that instance. I know how in the weeds I am here but I don't even care. This is a completely baffling display of a wonderfully unnecessary cinematic trope that I just had to mention it somewhere because I loved seeing it play out in this film.

Truthfully, that's about all I have to say about this film. Obviously I loved how 90's centric this movie was. That was easily my favorite part. Am I going to over-grade it because of the nostalgia? Probably. It wasn't a particularly great movie, especially knowing how good the original is. It's easily one of the best werewolf movies in modern cinema. This 90's adaptation is a far cry from it's original predecessor. But knowing I'm a fan of the subgenre and how often the werewolf movie is bungled, this one was fun in spite of it's flaws. It was a good watch. Am I going to revisit it? Not likely. Will it make the shelf? Not on your life. Did I have a lot of fun with it? Two words. SMASH MOUTH! So yeah, this movie probably deserves a C+ at best but because I can teeter, I'm leaning far enough into my youthful exuberance brought on by 90's wonderment and giving this film a B-. So before I come to my senses and realize how subpar this movie was and rate it properly, lets wind down day 8 and lean into the upcoming weekend. I think there's a chance I could get out to see a brand new horror movie in theaters this weekend. Not going to guarantee it but there's a chance, I will say that. But I'm going to go get my discman and my earbuds, NOT airpods, and burn a CD of Smash Mouth's greatest hits to let the last few embers of my Midnight Society inspired campfire burn out while enjoying an evening in the 90's. Never a bad time, totally. What waits for us on day 9? We'll have to wait and see. Until then, dudes and dudettes, I'll catch you on the flip side.