Indian Summer - 1993

It's evident that 1993 was the Year of Bill Paxton. It was also the year I graduated high school. In '93, Bill made the following films:

* Future Shock
* Indian Summer
* Boxing Helena (a film I made clear that I will not see again)
* Monolith
* Tombstone

I watched Indian Summer last night. I'm pretty amazed that it got 6.2 stars out of 10 on IMDB. The fact is, this film is boring. BOR-ING. I was trying to imagine that it was 1993 and my 17 year old self is watching it for the first time. You know, before I turned all cynical and jaded. Well, I couldn't do it. I'm quite sure that my preppy, up-beat 17 year old self would have fallen asleep to this film as well. The mid '90s answer to The Big Chill*? PLEASE! That's a major insult if I ever heard one.

Indian Summer, in a nutshell, is a nostalgia movie. It revolves around a bunch of friends who re-unite at Camp Tamakwa where they all spent their summer vacations 20 years prior. This movie falls flat because we don't know anything about the characters, save for Jack (played by Paxton) and Beth (played by Diane Lane). Of course Jack is the "bad boy" who was kicked out of camp in 1973. No one knows why he was kicked out, either. Also, no one expects him to show up for their reunion, but there he is. I was hoping there'd be some conflict or something between Jack and the others, but there's none. The only conflict in the entire film is when one couple allude to their marital problems. SO LAME!

Jack and Beth watch a Moose in the Canadian wilderness. BORING!

I'm sure if I bought this movie for my mom she would love it. Totally sappy and cheesy. It's really dated as well. And for a nostalgia film, there really aren't that many flash-backs or any insight into these people as pre-teens. WTF? I have no idea what Elizabeth Perkins' character is all about (other than she's supposed to be bitchy, I guess) or Matt Craven's character (other than he's a misogynist). What were these people like as kids? Should we care? Do we care? Obviously, my answer is "no".

Oh yeah, check out Sam Raimi playing a doofus named "Stick". He offers some comedy relief, but not enough to make me care much about what's happening on screen. And he doesn't further the plot along any, either. If he was a crazed killer who beat people with a stick (hence his nickname), THAT would be all sorts of awesome. But that never happened.

I'm glad I watched Indian Summer because now I can check it off the list. Bill Paxton was OK in it, and he had all the good one-liners that made me laugh. But for those keeping score, there were no leather pants. Sorta-mullet? Yes! Leathers? No. Oh well. Maybe he'll be wearing some in Tombstone.

*Yes, someone actually posted that on IMDB!