CHASE IS OUT OF PLACE IN `INVISIBLE MAN'

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 29, 1992                   TAG: 9202290250
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
CHASE IS OUT OF PLACE IN `INVISIBLE MAN'
"Memoirs of an Invisible Man" is certainly one of the tamer John Carpenter movies, but in this case that's not an asset. Restraint, here, merely translates to bland.
The movie itself represents a peculiar combination. Carpenter launched the popularity of the slasher films with "Halloween" in 1978. A connoisseur of B movies, he dabbled further with horror and then turned to pulp action films with "Escape from New York" and "Big Trouble in Little China."
The literate, witty H.F. Saint book, on which the movie is based, begs for a glossy, sophisticated approach. That's not the house style of the guy who gave us the remake of "The Thing."
And Chevy Chase and Daryl Hannah hardly seem the right leads for the intelligent, educated lovers at the center of the adventure. He seems more at home as a well-meaning, run-amok klutz on a Lampoon vacation, and she again is cast against type as a lawyer who makes anthropological documentaries for the Smithsonian Institution.
Her last name in the movie is Monroe, and she plays around with some breathy line delivery reminiscent of that blonde bombshell of another era. But when it comes to MMs, Margaret Mead is more appropriate to her character's job description than Marilyn Monroe's bimbo characterizations.
Chase plays Nick Halloway, a stock analyst with few family and social ties and few interests outside of making money. A friend introduces him to Alice at a private club and the two immediately click. So overwhelmed is Nick that he ties one on after Alice leaves for another engagement.
To treat his hangover the next morning, he sneaks away from a meeting at a scientific laboratory for a nap. A massive accident occurs, and Nick wakes up invisible.
Instead of helping him, however, the government investigators want to use him for their own covert purposes. Sam Neill plays Jenkins, an out-of-control CIA type who considers Nick potentially the most valuable espionage agent in existence. Nick wants no part of it and flees.
Much of the movie deals with his escapes, and there are some diverting and humorous effects involving invisibility. But the "Predator" movies and "Terminator 2" did invisibility better.
To the movie's credit, it's not as offensively dumb as some recent comedies.
And there are some laughs involving the pitfalls of not being seen. As should be expected, Chase handles the physical jokes with his usual comic savvy. But the general tone of the movie is more subdued than what Chase is accustomed to, and he seems a bit lost.

`Memoirs of an Invisible Man': ** A Warner Brothers picture at Salem Valley 8 (389-0444) and Valley View Mall 6 (989-6165). Rated PG-13 for language and sexual content; 115 minutes.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB