Forever Young

Top-notch performances help overcome film's cliches, weak storyline.

The makers of "Forever Young" are very smart. They went out and hired some of the most charming actors in the business to help this simplistic sci-fi weeper hang together. The result is a movie that is more enjoyable than it has any right to be. And Mel Gibson's legion of fans will not be disappointed.

Still, it's too bad the story isn't more interesting. With more wit and fewer cliches, this could have been a much better film.

Gibson plays a military test pilot in 1939 who loves flying — almost as much as he loves his girlfriend (Isabel Glasser). And when Gibson's best buddy (George Wendt), a scientist experimenting with cryogenics, announces that he and his wife are having a baby, Gibson begins to feel his biological clock ticking.

So, he resolves to ask Glasser to marry him but has trouble working up the nerve. And when she is suddenly struck down in an accident and slips into a coma, Gibson goes into a deep depression.

After a time, as it becomes apparent Glasser won't be waking up, Gibson volunteers to be a human guinea pig for Wendt's experiments, planning to sleep for a year.

Suddenly the film shifts to 1992 as a pair of young boys playing around in a military warehouse come across a strange machine, inadvertently flip some switches and awaken Rip Van Gibson. They run away and Gibson starts roaming the streets.

One of the boys (Elijah Wood) tells his single mother (Jamie Lee Curtis) about it, but she doesn't believe him, of course. It isn't long, however, before Gibson becomes a tenant with them and goes on a search for Wendt to try to figure out what has happened to him. And what happened to Glasser. Meanwhile, evil government agents begin closing in.

I won't tell you any more, despite the fact that the trailers (theatrical previews) for this film give away a serious plot point that doesn't occur until quite late in the film. Although, you'll likely guess it early on anyway.

The science-fiction twist provides this soap opera romance with some interesting elements, though the main premise certainly resembles last year's "Late for Dinner." And in the hands of less talented — and charming — players, it could certainly fall apart early on.

But Gibson, whose acting talent is often written off by critics because of his matinee-idol features, is very good, as are Curtis, Wood and the rest of the cast. The acting gives "Forever Young" a serious boost.

It's easy to complain about some obvious things — the background characters, particularly those played by Glasser and Wendt, get short shrift. And that silly movie cliche, Big Brother government paranoia, complete with a climactic chase scene, is even more tiresome.

But for the most part, the cast overcomes the time-worn instincts of screenwriter Jeffrey Abrams ("Taking Care of Business," "Regarding Henry") and director Steve Miner ("Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken," "Friday the 13th, Parts 2-3"). In fact, look at any of their films and you can see the problem. They've simply seen too many movies.

"Forever Young" is rated PG for violence (an attempted rape that seems intrusive), a few profanities and brief partial nudity (Gibson's backside, of course).