THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 15, 1996 TAG: 9601130089
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
IN THE COLLECTED works of Pauly Shore, ``Bio-Dome'' must rate as the worst, and that's saying a lot.
Shore is joined by formerly serious actor Stephen Baldwin in this pointless, stupider-than-stupid exercise.
Mistaking a scientifically sealed experimental dome for a mall, these two brain-dead specimens are locked in the Bio-Dome for a year with dedicated scientists. And, of course, the lads wreck all the experiments. (The scriptwriters don't bother to concoct anything more imaginative than having Pauly run through the lab and overturn all the glassware).
The dome itself is more an excuse for cheap sets than anything else.
The aim apparently is to make audiences feel superior. If so, this is a vastly successful effort. Who couldn't feel superior, even brainy, when compared to these characters and this writing?
Pauly states that his one aim in life is to ``die and come back as a leotard.''
Baldwin, one of THE Baldwin brothers, brags that ``the only thing I'm good at is masturbation.''
The surprising thing here is that Pauly is the more intelligent of the two characters. Young Baldwin showed some promise in ``The Usual Suspects,'' one of last year's best films. Any hope for his career comes to a screeching halt with this film. In one scene, Baldwin sucks Pauly's toe. Does he owe this much money or what?
William Atherton is an oh-so-serious scientist who is driven crazy by the boys. Henry Gibson, repeating the mincing phoniness of his Oscar-nominated role in ``Nashville,'' is the nerdish investor backing the dome project. Patty Hearst and presidential brother Roger Clinton make cameo appearances, but they, understandably, try not to be prominent.
Masturbation jokes, flatulence jokes, sexual innuendos and food fights are the order of the work.
There's nothing wrong with gross-out humor. It may not be the most admirable of genres, but there was a certain energy and flair to the first ``Wayne's World'' and the original ``Animal House.'' There's none of that in this lame outing.
At one point, Pauly looks into the camera and says, ``Sometimes stupid can be pretty cool.''
Not this time, Pauly. ILLUSTRATION: MOVIE REVIEW
``Bio-Dome''
Cast: Pauly Shore, Stephen Baldwin, William Atherton, Roger
Clinton, Patty Hearst
Director: Jason Bloom
Screenplay: Kip Koening and Steve Marcano
MPAA rating: PG-13 (flatulence, idiocy, drug references)
Mal's rating: *
Locations: Cinemark, Greenbrier in Chesapeake; Janaf, Main Gate
in Norfolk; Columbus, Kemps River, Lynnhaven 8 in Virginia Beach
by CNB