by Billy Russell, Staff Writer

There are some celebrities whose success seems to be linked to their inherently likable personality.  Yes, they’re capable of greatness, and they deliver the goods again and again and again, but that’s not what draws audiences to see them.  It’s them, themselves, their energy, their palpable likability, that draws us in.

Brendan Fraser is one of those people.  Yes, he’s been magnificent in movies like Gods and Monsters, and though I haven’t seen it yet, there’s a healthy amount of Oscar buzz surrounding his performance in The Whale (see our take tomorrow, -editor).  Good for him.  And I mean that genuinely.  He’s someone I’ve been hoping would have a comeback for years.  I always wondered what had happened–the guy was everywhere for over a decade, and then poof.  Gone.  

He appeared in an interview and told his tragic story.  Sexual assault, blacklisting, and having his body destroyed by keeping it an unrealistic physique for years.  We’ve all heard the story, I’m sure, and I don’t want to get bogged down in the tragedy of why his career had been torpedoed.  It’s a tale as old as time, and sadly, it happens with regularity.  

When he spoke about his hardships, the roles came rolling in for him.  Hell, he’s got a movie with Scorsese in the can, slated for release in early 2023.  I know I’m not alone on this:  People love the guy.  They love his sincerity.  Their eyes welled up with tears along with Fraser when he reacted to an interviewer telling him how happy they were to see him back in the spotlight again.

In movies like The Mummy trilogy, he brings this physical presence to the screen that’s impossible to replicate.  It’s a genuine energy that can only be forged in sincerity.  He’s a commanding presence, a badass, but he doesn’t take it too seriously.  He can punch through the skull of some CGI creature and then slip on a banana peel two seconds later without betraying his badass sensibilities.  They’re one in the same.  A package deal.  Fraser can goof around and fire guns loaded with blanks with the best of them, but he can deliver a quietly powerful performance when the need arises.

My favorite example of seeing Fraser “effortlessly” float a movie is Blast From the Past.  I put sarcastic quotes around “effortlessly” because, of course, he only makes it look effortless.  There is a lot of nuance to his performance, and what could have easily gotten real old, real quick, is instead of a multi-layered characterization that, quite literally, elevates the material.

Blast From the Past is a silly little inconsequential comedy of the late 90s with a retro/throwback aesthetic, of the Austin Powers vein.  Calvin and Helen (Christopher Walken and Sissy Spacek, who are just as great in their roles), at the height of nuclear panic in 1960s Cold War America, fear that the Big One has dropped and that the world has been destroyed.  They lock themselves in a bomb shelter for 30 years until the nuclear fallout half-life has subsided and it is now safe to venture into the above-ground world.  They send their son Adam (Fraser), who has never seen the world outside of his bomb shelter before.

What follows is typical sitcom stuff: There never was a nuclear war.  Adam has never seen the world before–not in person, anyway.  And 1990s America is indistinguishable from that of a Mad Max dystopian nightmare.  He runs errands and gathers food and materials for his family, under the belief that the world has been destroyed, but is building itself up again.

Adam is wide-eyed, curious and in love with so much of the world.  And, in fact, he falls in love with the first woman, other than his mother, that he met.  She, of course, is named Eve (Alicia Silverstone).  Adam lucks out that 1998-1999 American culture is embracing music and dancing his parents have taught him while in the shelter, so he impresses a group of onlookers with some swing dance moves he’d learned.

Blast From the Past isn’t the most original movie ever made, but it’s not setting out to be anything other than a piece of charming escapism with some great performances.  Fraser and company seem to really enjoy the premise and go all-in.  Everyone is giving Blast From the Past their very best.  

Adam could have been a grating character if played the wrong way.  His wide-eyed enthusiasm and relentless optimism, under the guidance of Fraser, become charming quirks, and you really want to root for him, and you hope he makes it out okay.  There are a few moments where you can see how in control he is of his performance–he takes a misunderstanding, one that could end with him in a mental institution, and instead of joking his way through it, he gives a moment of pain and anguish.  It’s a serious moment, and it makes all the difference.  We can see the fear in his eyes and hear the hurt in his voice.  It’s a nice moment.

Blast From the Past is top-tier Brendan Fraser, in a league of others like The Mummy, Encino Man, Bedazzled and Gods and Monsters.  He gets to really flex his comedic chops in a movie that gives him plenty to do and react to, but affords him those quieter moments too.  And, most of all, he gets to elevate the movie on his charm and make it look easy.