Returning Mickey Stern
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: C+
Michael Prywes’ Returning Mickey Stern (2002) is an
attempt to do a lower-budgeted version of something like Francis Coppola’s Peggy
Sue Got Married (1986), which was a solid cash-in in part on the first
Robert Zemeckis Back To The Future film the year before. Two generations down would not be so bad,
but as the Back To The Future sequels prove, you can only stretch this
out so much, which is why Coppola quit while he was ahead.
Visiting Fire Island, Mickey (Bologna) finds a younger
version of himself and seems to have slipped in some kind of time warp. The younger Mickey (Joshua Fishbein) is
about to make all the same mistakes he is and does this without regard to how
it might change the future. He is
totally oblivious, as is the script, which has some good dialogue mixed with
bad “frontin’ tough guy” dialogue that never adds up. That’s a shame, because with this cast that also includes Tom
Bosley, Renée Taylor and Connie Stevens and idea, this had more potential. More baseball and less silly “vulgar’
language would have made it more realistic, not less. The result is a film as interesting for its successes as its
failures and one filmmakers should look at.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is softer than
it should be and the black and white looks a shade too pale, but the color is
just consistent enough not to grade it lower.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 is simple stereo at best. Extras include text notes, three featurettes,
stills, trailer, storyboards and an audio commentary by the director. Even when the film does not work, these
pieces make this more interesting overall.
- Nicholas Sheffo
