Dream a Little Dream

While the latter 1980s were absolutely gagged with lame body-switching comedies like the listless Vice Versa and Like Father, Like Son, I found something entirely different and actually inspiring in Dream a Little Dream. Buoyed by strong performances, Dream is not at all what you'd expect it would be. Much to my surprise, it is actually a smart, witty, intelligent and touching look at old age and adolecence by way of new age philosophy. Corey Feldman gives one of his best performances, and no, that's not a joke, and Haim is never better anywhere than he is in his small role as the oddball best friend Dinger. Obviously it didn't hurt to have a three time Oscar nominee like the late, great Jason Robards on board. This movie really does have something for everyone, and I'm being a hundred percent serious. So many "oh so serious" types like to bash movies like this, but I'm a writer, and I love good, interesting movies, and I truly see this as one of them. What a terrific, quirky little gem produced by the Two Coreys before midnight, January 1st, 1990 when their careers suddenly spiralled down the toilet. Funny, touching, and utterly enjoyable.

So far it's just a bunch of random scenes and montages and hip sounding music and the Corey's seemingly improv-ing the whole movie. Wow. Is it me?

Great coming of age vehicle for Corey Feldman, who once again shows the potential he did in "Stand By Me" earlier in his career. Bobby Keller (Feldman) is a teenager with unusual problems. When an older man who lives down the street (Robards) tries a transcendental experiment in order to extend the lives of him and his skeptical but humoring wife (Laurie), they quite literally become trapped in the bodies of Keller and his dream girl, Lainie (Salenger).

Bobby must figure out how to switch back to his own body by a certain deadline or be trapped. Worse is the fact that Lainie doesn't know what's happened to her, so Bobby has little time to win her and convince her of their predicament before she will be lost forever.

Although Haim is annoying (as usual) as Feldman's buddy "Dinger" (puh-leez), the movie has some funny moments (like when Robards' character is trying to teach Feldman's how to be suave and Feldman is trying to teach Robards how to be inconspicuous) and some sweet ones, (like when Bobby is trying to win Lainie's heart).

Although some of it may be too precocious for the younger kids (and too dorky for the more sophsticated older teens), I found it to be fun and nostalgic. Great movie for a rainy day.

What is "Dream A Little Dream"? No one knows, but somebody in the late 80's seemed to have had the following idea: let's make another movie with the two Coreys about something that kids love to see at the moment. Yeah, let's make a body swapping movie or something. We could put in some rad clothes and hip music. To top it all off we'll have Jason Robards in a side role, how about that?

Well, the result is a mess as you can image. The story is practically non-existent. Corey Feldman - whose acting is horrid in this movie, by the way - has to fret for something because of something that we are not exactly sure about. As we're trying to figure out why we're too stupid to figure out what's going on, we are constantly bombarded with a soundtrack of old and then current songs about "Dreams".

It's kinda fun and intriguing to watch such a train wreck. The characters are less than believable, the fashion is the worst you've ever seen in a movie. You've never seen a movie like this at all. It's a rare member of the romance/sci-fi/mind swapping/coming of age/drama/comedy-genre. Or something.

Lovers of the obscure, this is your movie!

Every time I see this film I learn something new! The second you turn it on you are back in the 80's, however the film is relevent to today's world as well. A timeless piece that is one of my favorite films I've seen to date. Proof that Feldman can indeed act! Leaves you pondering at the end, a ponder that could take years to recover from.

This film had been discontinued and I am glad to see it is being printed again... Now lets just wait for the DVD release! I hope it happens!!!