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This is an archive article published on May 29, 1998

Hollywood Watch

Flubber: New EmpireRemember Fred McMurray as the Absent Minded Professor, driving his Model-T Ford in the sky to catch spies? It was this 19...

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Flubber: New Empire

Remember Fred McMurray as the Absent Minded Professor, driving his Model-T Ford in the sky to catch spies? It was this 1961 comedy that first used the lighter-than-air substance, flubber, to make the car fly. Flubber is the re-make of that film but the modern special effects do not enhance the story. In fact, they only add to the heavy doses of slapstick. A plus point of course is Weebo the robot who is Professor Phillip Brainard8217;s Robin Williams companion.

He is a non-Frankensteinian monster, very human and almost possesses a soul. Now, the Professor is so absent-minded that he even addresses the wrong class. As for his wedding, his sweetheart Sara Jeean Reynolds Marcia Gay Harden has to return twice, wedding gown in hand, because he8217;s forgotten about it. Sara is the principal of the Medfield college which is facing a financial crisis, and only the Professor8217;s invention can get it out of the crisis. Wilson Croft Christopher McDonald is another teacher who wants togive Sara the glad eye and almost succeeds when the professor makes a hat-trick of forgetfulness. The basketball game in which the college triumphs thanks to flubber has its moments but it is Williams and the robot that keep the film together.

 

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