Had Corvette Summer been blessed with a better casting director, perhaps it would have escaped the ignominy of our weekly Bad Movie Friday slot. But no—they just had to cast the 27-year-old Mark Hamill as a high-school student, and noted character actress Annie Potts as a Vegas sexpot (a far cry from her ideal role as the Ghostbusters’ sarcastic receptionist). As a result, the whole enterprise comes off as slightly askew—or, in the words of The New York Times reviewer, “There isn’t a line in Corvette Summer that doesn’t read better than it plays.”
We remember seeing this flick as first graders or thereabouts, and being deeply disappointed that no light sabers were involved. Upon more recent re-watching, that disappointment remains. But the desert car chase isn’t too shabby—though we don’t quite buy the notion that a single revolver shot could incinerate a wrecked StingrayTrans Am.
By the way, our favorite part of the above trailer comes at the 48 second mark. Acting! And, alas, Mark Hamill’s thespianic shortcomings in a nutshell. Good thing the voiceover career worked out for him.
eraserhead // Aug 21, 2009 at 6:41 pm
OK, busted, errata time, the dude blows up a Transam, not a Stingray.
But the car chase was really awful. All it reminded me of was the great MST3K take on “Mitchell!”, with the slowest car chase of all time.
Gramsci // Aug 23, 2009 at 3:59 pm
At least here Annie Potts got to be the “out of this world” lead instead of the creepy, prom-dress keeping, hanger-on 28 year old who’s best friends with Molly Ringwald in “Pretty in Pink.”
MK, if your screenplay has any “Oh YEAH?!!”‘s in it, we’ll know what you’re alluding to.
Brendan I. Koerner // Aug 24, 2009 at 9:28 am
@eraserhead: Thanks for the correction. Fixed.
@While there are no “Oh yeahs?!” in the NtHWS screenplay, I did cop the line, “What do you drink–motor oil?” It’s spoken by a Naga elder. I really hope the audience buys it.