Memoirs of an Invisible Man

John Carpenter is one of my favorite directors. Chevy Chase is one of my favorite comedians. So this movie should be a winner for me, but it's not. The movie looks good because looking good is a Carpenter trademark. The special effects are fun but I can't see how they were any more effective than the original Universal Horror "The Invisible Man" from back in the 1930s. Sam Neill is really good as a ruthless villain. The problem for me is with the two leads. Chase and Daryl Hannah are so flat. It looks like Chase is uninterested and his character is an unlikable jerk. Normally, he plays those characters to perfection ("Fletch", for example). But not here. Daryl Hannah is just not good. I've never liked her in anything south of the mermaid in "Splash". This was an elusive entry in my half-hearted quest to see all of Carpenter's films. I'm glad I got to see it but it was really underwhelming.

From John Carpenter comes the satiric spy thriller _Memoirs of an Invisible Man_. When a lab accident turns Nick Halloway invisible, the CIA attempts to capture him in order to learn the secret of his invisibility and force him to work for them. Starring Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah, Sam Neill, and Michael McKean, the film as a pretty good cast; Chase especially does an impressive job with the dry, sardonic humor. But the film doesn’t just do invisibility gags, it also shows the depression, isolation, and restrictiveness that would come with being truly unseen. And the invisibility effects are remarkably well-done. However, the CIA characters are one-dimensional stereotypes and the chases get a little repetitive. Yet while it has its problems, _Memoirs of an Invisible Man_ is entertaining and a bit of fun.