I’ve always contended that Innerspace is what can happen when filmmakers are clearly ‘inspired’ by an earlier film, yet take great pains to never actually plagiarize or “rip off” their well-admired inspirations. Science fiction fans will find much of Innerspace reminiscent of the 1966 classic Fantastic Voyage, yet this addicting little comic adventure never once seems like a retread.
Most of the praise is due to fanboy favourite Joe Dante and his ability to present the most outlandish cinematic concepts in a colourfully believable style. Whether he’s juggling 300 Gremlins or recreating the movie palaces of yesteryear (as he did in his criminally underrated Matinee), Dante has proven that he’s a clever and astute movie fan… who just happens to also be one helluva director.
Flyboy Tuck Pendleton is about to take part in a ‘miniaturization’ experiment. Through the use of technologies only found in great sci-fi movies, Tuck plans to climb into a spaceship-like pod, get zapped down to a microscopic size, and then get injected into the body of a test bunny. Things simply do not go as planned.
When a gang of industrial baddies breaks into the lab, Tuck (already teeny-tiny and floating around in a syringe) is stolen and ends up injected into the posterior of nebbishy supermarket clerk Jack Putter. Eventually, Jack and Tuck communicate (though it takes Jack a long time to accept that he’s not completely insane), which makes things easier once the cadre of joyously arcane villains starts in with a hot pursuit. Of course there’s a time limit: if Tuck and his little pod are not extracted within a few hours, that little pod will simply expand back to normal size; consider cleaning up that mess.
Innerspace would never even get produced today. It would be too expensive, too silly, not enough star-power, and it crosses too many genres. Plus, if a movie about ‘one man crawling inside another man’ were produced today, it would probably be nothing more than a whole lot of fart and poop jokes orbiting around a non-stop proliferation of product placements for Apple Computers and BMW. Innerspace is high-concept all the way, but if all such ‘high-concept’ movies were crafted with this much affection and good humour, then lots of movie critics would be out of jobs.
The screenplay (by Chip Proser and the late Jeffrey Boam) is a buffet of movie in-jokes, warm-yet-broad characterizations, exciting action sequences, and clever sci-fi shenanigans. The cast stands out as a film fan’s fondest dream. Aside from the two leads (Dennis Quaid as Tuck and Martin Short as Jack) offering some of their best comedy work ever, the supporting cast is a who’s-who of recognizable friends: Meg Ryan (in only her fifth feature) is as perky and infectiously adorable as ever; Kevin McCarthy steals several scenes as the deliriously evil Victor Scrimshaw; the little-seen Fiona Lewis is pitch perfect as his duplicitous right-hand gal; and the background is populated with fantastic faces like Henry Gibson, Wendy Schaal, Dick Miller, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, and a criminally entertaining turn by Robert Picardo as “The Cowboy”.
Some may gripe that Innerspace wears its Fantastic Voyage inspiration a bit too plainly on its sleeve or that the movie simply runs on a bit too long, but I could refute both those assertions: not only is Innerspace just as entertaining as the seminal ‘60s Fantastic Voyage, but I’d contend that the two would make a perfect Saturday afternoon double feature. As far as the ‘overlong’ argument goes… heck, if I’m eating food this delicious, I certainly wouldn’t mind the portions being ‘extra large’.
