Encino Man

Directed by Les Mayfield, Encino Man follows buddies Dave (Sean Astin) and Stoney (Pauly Shore) as they dig up a frozen caveman (Brendan Fraser’s Link) and eventually integrate him into their high school lives. It’s a funny, promising broad setup that’s employed to watchable yet somewhat disappointing effect by Mayfield, as the filmmaker, armed with a script by Shawn Schepps, delivers a sluggish comedy that’s rarely, if ever, able to wholeheartedly become the engrossing (and hilarious) endeavor one might’ve anticipated – with the movie’s mostly watchable atmosphere due almost entirely to the efforts of an exceedingly charismatic cast. (Astin and Shore are convincing and entertaining as the central protagonists, while Fraser’s scene-stealing work here remains an obvious highlight.) And although Mayfield has peppered the early part of the proceedings with predictably goofy fish-out-of-water episodes, including Link’s amusing encounter with a garbage truck, Encino Man abandons such shenanigans distressingly quickly and becomes a fairly standard teen comedy that admittedly does peter out to a palpable extent – which ultimately confirms the picture’s place as a just-good-enough effort that could (and should) have been so much better.

**1/2 out of ****