Weird Science (film)



A 1985 Speculative Fiction comedy directed by John Hughes, starring Brat Packer Anthony Michael Hall and supermodel Kelly LeBrock, and featuring Bill Paxton and Robert Downey Jr. A typical-for-its-time (if somewhat tame) Wish Fulfillment teen-sex comedy with a sci-fi twist: When a pair of Hollywood Nerds can't get girls on their own, they decide to build themselves the perfect woman in an effort to become popular.

Wyatt and Gary are typical Nerds (if unattractive only by Hughes' standards) who are bullied at school. At home, Wyatt's Jerk Jock older brother Chet makes their lives just as uncomfortable. The guys are desperate for female attention. Unable to work up the nerve to actually talk to real girls, the pair use Wyatt's Magical Computer to simulate a woman. However, a hack into a government mainframe and a freak thunderstorm all come together and bring the woman simulation to real life.

This woman, whom the boys name "Lisa", turns out to be a Magical Girlfriend, able to create "anything [she] want[s]". What she wants, in the end, is to help the boys get girlfriends. To this end she takes them to a blues bar to befriend the clientele (to break them out of their shells); teaches them to kiss (at least, teaches Wyatt); and throws a big raving party at Wyatt's house (to show them that they can be popular, or at least liked). When, however, the boys hide from their own party, Lisa creates a distraction: a home invasion by a biker gang to threaten the guys' dream girls, forcing them to come to the rescue and scare the thugs off. She also stands up to Chet, showing him what it's like to be on the receiving end of a bully's attention.

Adapted into a television series in the early 90s.

"Lisa: Well, in your race for power and glory, you forgot one small detail. Wyatt: We forgot to hook up the doll. Lisa: You forgot to hook up the doll. (Cue Pershing missile punching through their floor.)"
 * Adaptation Expansion: The comic book story the film was based on was produced in the early 1950s, with the film significantly updating and expanding the premise for the home computer age.
 * An Aesop: "When are you gonna learn that people will like you for who you are, and not for what you can give them?"
 * Subverted an instant later with:

"Wyatt: "Where did you get that gun?" Gary: "It's a squirt gun, see?" [BOOM] [ Oh Crap]"
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Lisa may be hot, but beware that she is the hi-tech equivalent of a Djinn (and djinn are usually not very nice) and will fuck your day. Chet learned this the hard and humiliating way.
 * But Now I Must Go
 * Caught with Your Pants Down
 * Chekhov's Gun: Literally, Lisa's squirt gun (see Remonstrating, below).
 * Cliché Storm
 * The Eighties
 * Eighties Hair: Lisa, big time.
 * Fanservice Extras: The girl in the upside down bathroom who gives a gratuitous Panty Shot is one. The other is the girl playing the piano, who gets stripped down to her panties before being sucked up and out the chimney. The "Girl Playing Piano" is Kym Malin, who is also Playboy's Playmate of the Month for May 1982.
 * The Freelance Shame Squad: How funny is it when two kids get a Slurpee dumped on their heads? To ask the shoppers in that mall, there's absolutely nothing funnier, and they make sure Gary and Wyatt know that.
 * Hollywood Hacking: Complete with Extreme Graphical Representation.
 * Hollywood Nerds
 * I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Lisa's main goal with Wyatt and Gary is to help them find happiness their own way. In her own words, she gets off on it.
 * Informed Attractiveness: Lisa is played by a fairly attractive actress; but her then incredibly fashionable hair, makeup and style of dress has aged very badly -- which, at least for some modern viewers, makes it harder to accept her as the sex goddess everyone in the film seems to think she is.
 * Instant AI, Just Add Water: Wyatt and Gary's initial plan was to create a perfect simulated woman who was smart, attractive and could give great advice on how they could pick up women of their own. A freak lightning storm, caused said woman to come to life and give her powers to boot. That aside she's everything they asked for.
 * Jerk Jock: Chet.
 * Lightning Can Do Anything: Whether you remember to hook up the doll or not.
 * Magical Girl: Lisa, born of a Magical Computer.
 * Instant AI, Just Add Water and/or lightning. And don't forget to hook up the doll. Pershing missiles happen when you don't hook up the doll.
 * Magical Girlfriend: What Gary and Wyatt wanted... but not quite so much what they got.
 * A Man Is Always Eager: At least one of the main guys.
 * Modesty Bedsheet: Gary, Wyatt, and Lisa take a shower together, and the boys keep their jeans and tennis shoes on.
 * No Hugging, No Kissing: Ok, so you just created a Magical Girlfriend who looks like Kelly LeBrock and you don't have sex with her? Please.
 * Reality Warper: Lisa. It's really the only explanation for what she's capable of.
 * Remonstrating with a Gun: Gary at the party, terrifying the guests in the process.


 * Secret Test of Character:
 * Train Escape (version 1): Gary evades a police pursuit in this manner.
 * Weird Science: Not the Trope Namer. This film was named after the genre, not the other way around. If anything, Weird Science is the Film Namer.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: The end of the movie shows most of the damage from the party repairing itself, but a couple of questions remain:
 * Is the kitchen still blue??
 * Speaking of the kitchen, are Wyatt's grandparents still catatonic in the pantry?
 * Are David Hodges and the photographer from the party still trapped in the TV?
 * Wild Teen Party: Most of the middle of the movie.
 * You Are Better Than You Think You Are: The main aesop of the movie. Gary and Wyatt have to learn that the only thing stopping them from having a good time, getting girlfriends and keeping the bullies from hassling them is themselves.