# And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird (1991)

### reviewed by
diane.v.wilkerson

                         AND YOU THOUGHT YOUR PARENTS WERE WEIRD
                                       [Spoilers]
                           A film review by Diane V. Wilkerson
                            Copyright 1991 Diane V. Wilkerson

I can't believe this is being released! Save yourselves! "Warning! Warning, Will Robinson!" Run away! Watch a MacGyver rerun on USA instead! Fans of bad movies, get your popcorn!

Well, I saw this gem (and I use the word with much sarcasm) about six weeks ago at a sneak preview seminar. Let's see if I can explain it before breaking down in hysterics. Stop now if you want to preserve the suspense...

Take Marcia Strassman (Mrs. Kotter from TV's "Welcome Back, Kotter"), and make her the widow of a computer engineering genius, who allegedly has committed suicide. Add two boys, one teen-age, one pre-teen as her sons. Make them scientific geniuses, who take their winnings from a contest, give half to mom, and take the other half to buy parts for the robot they are building. The robot, NEWMAN (you figure it out), is supposed to be the next wave in reasoning machines. Looks like a Wet-Dry vac with a colander for a head. Throw in an equally talented teen-aged bully and his father who run the local electronics parts salvage yard, industrial espionage from the company the boys father worked for, an Ouija board on Halloween, and the voice of Alan Thicke, and you have one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life. The plot is that Mom is about to lose the house, and the boys think that if they can get NEWMAN working, they could sell the rights for mega-money. Except they can't get it working, until the fateful night the older boy goes to a Halloween party, and while using an Ouija board, has a strange experience. Outside, an odd light falls into the family's garage, entering the robot's body. The enlivened robot solves all of the family's problems and answers all of the family's questions about the father's death by the end of the movie.

By the time the movie was over, almost everyone in the audience was howling with laughter, and this was during the touching conclusion! I suppose if you have some 8-11 year-olds they *might* like it. But the "special effects" and everything about this movie was cheaply done (we figured $1 million tops). There were a few people who said they enjoyed the movie. The rest of us were too doubled over with laughter to issue anything coherent. It is rated PG for some violence near the end.

Our guest for that evening was Bob Campbell, a movie reviewer for the STAR-LEDGER (a NJ newspaper). He also couldn't believe how bad this movie was, and doubted that it would ever be released. So we were all wrong. There is too much money in America.

    You were warned.

    --
    Diane Wilkerson
    AT&T Bell Labs
    ..!att!cbnewsh!dvw

    .

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