Despite its eager-beaver enthusiasm, FRANKENSTEIN AND ME is a technically deficient, woefully under-scripted, and doggedly directed fantasy wholly lacking the airy touch it needs.
Growing up in the Mojave Desert in the 1970s, Earl Williams (Jamieson Boulanger) spends his time daydreaming about horror movies. Despite the admonishments of his parents (Myriam Cyr, Burt Reynolds) and the disparagement of his teacher Mrs. Purdue (Louise Fletcher), Earl deals with his
constricting existence by building a contraption to create artificial human life. He imagines recasting famous monster movies with prominent roles for him, younger brother Larry (Ricky Mabe), and their friends, Kenny (Ryan Gosling) and Karen (Rebecca Henderson). Although Mom frets about Earl's
lack of a socially acceptable focus, his dad, who regrets giving up his own dream of being an actor, nurtures his son's imagination.
After his father dies suddenly from a heart attack, Earl becomes fascinated with a sideshow attraction purporting to be the "real" Frankenstein monster. When the carnival leaves town, good fortune smiles on Earl as the crate containing the alleged monster falls out of its truck. Earl and Kenny
give the dormant creature a temporary home at an abandoned mine site where they plan to reanimate it. Following an electronics diagram designed by his dad, Earl and his friends zap the monster until the town authorities put a stop to the proceedings. Despite being in a jam, Earl feels his deceased
dad would be proud that he followed his dream. A coda reveals the Frankenstein monster lurching through the nearby Mojave Desert.
Other movies have cannibalized cinema for ironic comic effect (e.g., 1982's DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID). Others, like DREAMCHILD (1985), created fantasy sequences to comment on the central story thread of the film. But the interweaving of film clips, tangential fantasy bits, or dream segments must
be handled deftly and, above all, organically. With a total lack of incisive psychology or filmic craft, FRANKENSTEIN AND ME simply interrupts itself for more of Earl's own versions of renowned horror pics. It's like a benign remake of an adult ghost story. None of the cutesy parodies, plopped
into the narrative without rhyme or reason, express Earl's pre-pubescent turmoil in any depth, nor do they shed light on his weird obsessions. The film also forces us to wade through sentimentality and inane humor. Totally ignoring the darker side of Earl's mission to play God, this lighthearted
and lightheaded diversion floats well above the heads of its intended youthful audience and won't connect with adult viewers either. (Violence.) leave a comment