THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 19, 1996 TAG: 9601190118
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TAMAR ANITAI, TEENOLOGY MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
WHAT DO Slurpees, the rain forest, hot babes, controlled living environments, flatulence, entomology, boogers and homeostasis have in common?
Absolutely nothing unless you're Bud and Doyle (played by Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin respectively), two immature, repulsive, apathetic, socially stunted Arizona junior college students.
In ``Bio-Dome,'' the ghastly duo somehow have been paired with two gorgeous environmental crusader girlfriends. The primitive guys do anything, including inflicting severe cranial damage upon each other, to get out of attending the Earth Day celebration and ceremonial sealing of the dome. The sealed dome is to be home for a few scientists for one year. The guys would prefer another day of couch meditation and herbal indulgence to watching the ceremony.
But when the Lone Ranger of Offensiveness and his equally disagreeable Kimosabe accidentally stumble into the Bio-Dome, they too become sealed into the world of hard-core environmentalism that even their girlfriends or your science teacher could never dream of. So they must live for the next year in the scientific bubble.
The boys quickly find their new world to be a tropical playground. They wreak havoc upon the scientists and their experiments, the controlled environment and even insect matings, sending the Bio-Dome's balanced homeostasis level for a plummeting nose dive.
It is only after their keg party, attended by fellow students, that the boys realize the importance of cleaning up and repairing not only their controlled environment but the world around them as well.
Pauly Shore stumbles, mumbles, and chuckles his way through the film, leaving us to wonder if he is breaking character, or whether he was in character to begin with, or if there is even a difference?
And isn't this the second movie in which Stephen Baldwin cavorts about to ``Boom Shak-A-Lak''? He grunts, looks permanently stoned, gives the audience a point-blank shot of his rear and actually creates the impression that Pauly Shore is intelligent in a Cliff-from-``Cheers'' sort of way.
``Bio-Dome'' appeals to that instinctive level of humor which causes one to automatically laugh at bodily functions. Its humor is not profound or worthy of analysis. It's old-fashioned, mindless, kicked-in-the-groin, whoopie cushion and wedgie comedy. The plot was so apparent that my cat could have correctly picked up on it within the first five minutes.
While the world will not come to a screeching halt if this movie goes unseen, you have my blessing to go ahead and see ``Bio-Dome'' in the name of boredom. See it in the name of childhood regression. Just don't see it in the name of science. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Tamar Anitai is a senior at First Colonial High School.
by CNB