Gleeson scores some points for his sardonic bluster. For some reason, the sheriff of this small Maine town is Irish (and so played by Brendan Gleeson). Her character is a clumsy attempt at introducing a fish-out-of-water city slicker character.īill Pullman is Jack Wells, a local game officer, and Pullman plays his usual slightly gruff, slightly charming leading man. Oh, and her boss at the museum has just broken up with her, so she wants to get away from it all, or something like that. This big city scientist is awkwardly roped into the plot via the tooth the crocodile leaves in its first victim, since someone mistakes the tooth for a dinosaur’s, and they call the museum for help. For example, the main character, Kelly Scott (played by Bridget Fonda), is a paleontologist from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Like the plot, the characters are highly contrived. Thus, stupid and zany characters are provided to try to propel the narrative and hold our interest. In contrast, Lake Placid never constructs believable reasons for the characters to risk life and limb in the water, particularly once the crocodile is discovered, since, as one character observes, the lake is isolated and seldom used. One of the many brilliant aspects of Jaws is how the narrative creates plausible necessity for characters to get into the water, such as the seaside town needing summer revenue from beach tourists. The film’s most obvious reference point is Jaws, and a quick comparison to Spielberg’s classic lays bare the many inadequacies of Lake Placid. There’s not a lot that is entertaining about the movie, and what is strange and noteworthy about the film doesn’t work within the narrative. Given the film’s bungled storyline and characters and its mediocre entertainment value, I was amazed to discover that Lake Placid has acquired over the years a modest reputation as a cult movie, and that several TV-movie sequels have been made. The central problem with Lake Placid is that the filmmakers neither coherently nor entertainingly exploit the film’s vivid premise about a giant man-eating crocodile menacing a lake in Maine (note: it’s not set in Lake Placid, NY).
#Lake placid 1 movie movie#
Arriving in the summer of 1999 at the tail end of the 90s blockbuster era, Lake Placid is a feeble high-concept monster movie and a flaccid horror comedy.
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