Flubber (film)

Flubber
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Les Mayfield
Produced by	John Hughes Ricardo Mestres
Screenplay by	Bill Walsh John Hughes
Based on	"A Situation of Gravity" by Samuel W. Taylor
Starring	Robin Williams Marcia Gay Harden Christopher McDonald Ted Levine Clancy Brown Raymond J. Barry Wil Wheaton Scott Michael Campbell Edie McClurg
Music by	Danny Elfman
Cinematography	Dean Cundey
Edited by	Harvey Rosenstock Michael A. Stevenson
Production company	Walt Disney Pictures Great Oaks Productions
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates	November 26, 1997 (1997-11-26)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80 million
Box office	$177.9 million

Flubber is a 1997 comedy film and a remake of The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), directed by Les Mayfield (who had previously directed another John Hughes scripted remake, Miracle on 34th Street). The film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures, and stars Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden, Christopher McDonald, Ted Levine, Raymond J. Barry and Clancy Brown.

Although the film was poorly reviewed, it did well at the box office, making more than double its budget. Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, presenters of MythBusters worked as visual technicians in the film's production. Bill Nye also worked on this film as a science consultant. Toni Basil also worked as a choreographer.

Plot

Professor Philip Brainard (Robin Williams) of Medfield College is developing a new energy source, in an attempt to raise enough money to save the college from closure. His preoccupation with his research distracts him from his fiancée, the college president Sara Jean Reynolds (Marcia Gay Harden). He has missed two weddings because of that preoccupation, much to Sara's anger. On the day of the third attempted wedding, Philip is approached by his former partner Wilson Croft (Christopher McDonald), who has profited from ideas he has stolen from the scientist and now desires to steal Sara from Philip and make her his wife, which he declares directly to Philip.

Before Philip can make it to the wedding, his latest experiment shows fast development, distracting him and forcing him to miss yet another wedding. The resulting substance created from the experiment is a jellyish green goo that increases in speed as it bounces and proves to be difficult to control, wreaking havoc on the neighborhood before the professor finally manages to capture it. Weebo (voiced by Jodi Benson), Philip's hovering robot assistant, classifies the substance as "flying rubber", leading Philip to christen it as "Flubber".

Philip continues to work on Flubber into the early morning, looking to stabilize the rubber's movement as opposed to stimulation. Philip's watch alarm goes off at 6 a.m. (set wrong) and Weebo informs him that he has missed the third wedding. Philip goes to Sara's office and unsuccessfully attempts to explain the situation to her. Meanwhile, Medfield College sponsor Chester Hoenicker (Raymond J. Barry) is unhappy that Philip failed his son Bennett (Wil Wheaton) in chemistry class. That night, Hoenicker sends his two hired thugs Smith (Clancy Brown) and Wesson (Ted Levine) to Philip's house in an attempt to persuade Philip into giving Bennett a better grade. However, Philip is too busy testing the Flubber to even notice them and suddenly hits them on the head with a Flubber-coated golf ball and bowling ball. He uses Flubber to give his vintage Ford Thunderbird flight. During a test run, he discovers Wilson making the moves on Sara. Afterwards, Weebo attempts to confess her love of Philip, only to be shrugged off as a computer. In response, she secretly creates a holographic human version of herself named Sylvia (Leslie Stefanson) in hopes of winning him over. Before Weebo can kiss Philip in this form as he sleeps, Philip awakens with another idea for Flubber. On an empty basketball arena he tests the effects of Flubber on a basketball and himself. In order to allow the unskilled Medfield basketball team to win the game, he gives them Flubber-padded shoes during half-time.

Back in Philip's home, a curious Weebo unleashes Flubber from his case, allowing him to dance around the house and with Weebo's help the rest of the household appliances join in. After the closely competed but successful basketball game, Philip's attempt to win Sara back into his favor fails. Philip dumps all of his emotional baggage onto Weebo, saying his absent-mindedness is due to his love of Sara. Weebo records Philip's ramblings and shows the footage to Sara, who then reconciles with Philip. Philip demonstrates Flubber's abilities to Sara and they discuss how it can be used for profit. However, Hoenicker discovers Flubber's existence and sends Smith and Wesson to infiltrate Philip's house and steal Flubber. Weebo attempts to fend off the henchmen, only to be struck down by Wesson with a baseball bat. Philip and Sara return home and find Webber (Philip's house-robot) cleaning up, Flubber gone and Weebo destroyed. Later, Philip discovers that Weebo had downloaded back-up data of herself onto his computer in the event of her destruction, as well as a video recording of Weebo's hologram professing her love for him.

Philip and Sara confront Hoenicker and try to retrieve Flubber, only to discover that Wilson is allied with the millionaire. After a battle, Philip and Sara defeat Wilson, Bennett, Hoenicker and his henchmen, get Flubber back, raise enough money to save the college and finally have a successful marriage, along with Flubber and the "daughter" of Weebo, called Weebette. The film ends with the family heading to Hawaii in Philip's car.

Cast

• Robin Williams as Professor Philip Brainard, the main protagonist. Williams was the first choice for the role, but at the time he was in a bitter fallout with Disney, because he learned that Genie (whom he voiced in Aladdin) would not be voiced by him in merchandise and his character would not take up more than 25% of the space of a poster, ad, billboard, or trailer, and would not accept the role, so John Hughes considered many other actors for the role including Jeff Goldblum, Patrick Stewart, Christopher Lloyd and John Lithgow. But when Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney, Williams got along with the company and Hughes cast him in the lead.
• Marcia Gay Harden as Dr. Sara Jean Reynolds
• Jodi Benson as the voice of Weebo
• Robert Cooper puppeteered Weebo.
• Christopher McDonald as Wilson Croft
• Ted Levine as Wesson
• Clancy Brown as Smith
• Scott Martin Gershin provided the voice of Flubber and it was processed to raise the pitch to sound small and squeaky.
• Raymond J. Barry as Chester Hoenicker
• Wil Wheaton as Bennett Hoenicker
• Edie McClurg as Martha George
• Leslie Stefanson as Sylvia (Weebo's hologram)
• Julie Morrison as the voice of Weebette
• Scott Michael Campbell as Dale
• Nancy Olson as the secretary at the Ford Motor Company (uncredited)

Production

Filming began in San Francisco on Treasure Island in Hangers 1 and 3. Sets constructed there included the basketball court, a duplicate of the Professors house where some exterior and all interior shots were produced, a separate set portraying the basement of the house, and Hoenickers library. Many exterior shots of Brainards house were shot in San Jose at a home that was temporarily modified, including the addition of an Observatory on the roof. Sara Jeans office, Hoenickers living room, and most exterior campus shots were produced at a private girls High School (Mercy Burlingame) on the San Francisco peninsula. The exterior shot of the Rutland gym was shot at Stanford. Some scenes were filmed on campus at San Jose State University in Washington Square Hall during production in late 1996. The shot of the Professor and Sara Jean floating through the clouds in the Thunderbird was filmed at the former Mare Island Naval facility in Vallejo, California. Other scenes were filmed at the University of the Pacific, Stockton.

Gag homages

Many gags are embellishments from the 1961 film, with John Hughes (Home Alone) rewriting the original Bill Walsh screenplay (based on Samuel W. Taylor's short story, A Situation of Gravity). Even though Walsh died in 1975, he received posthumous credit for this script. Also, Wil Wheaton was cast because he resembles Tommy Kirk, who was in the 1961 film. Early in production, Steven Spielberg considered being the film's producer. When Phillip takes Sarah for a ride in the flying car, he flies through a cloud in front of the moon. As the cloud disperses, you can see a reference to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which was directed by Steven Spielberg.

Reception

Box office

Flubber performed well at the box office. It made $92,977,226 in the United States and a total of $85 million in other countries for a total of $178 million internationally.

Critical response

The film holds a 24% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 31 reviews indicating "Generally Unfavourable Reviews". Metacritic which assigns a normalised rating in the 0–100 range, calculated an average score of 37 out of 100, based on 19 reviews. The film was submitted for an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects, but did not get nominated. Janet Maslin of The New York Times said the film "may seem all but unavoidable to viewers looking for live-action children's features" she felt Flubber was "more akin to a dangerous weapon." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times listed Flubber as one of the nine worst films of 1997, saying, "The movie seems to be made out of anti-flubber; you drop it, and it stays on the floor. Although the movie may appeal to kids in the lower grades, it's pretty slow, flat and dumb."

Other reviewers received the film more positively. The Washington Post praised the Flubber character for having "more personality than many Hollywood actors" and Williams' performance but felt the film as a whole was "few monkeys shy of a kid movie masterpiece." Joe Leydon of Variety magazine praised the directing of Mayfield and said the film had "possibly greater cross-generational appeal" than Hughes live-action remake of 101 Dalmatians. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B-, saying that he felt the special effects of the film did not entirely overwhelm the story, and that the film was "an agreeably unhinged slapstick jamboree."

Video release history

Flubber was first released on VHS on April 21, 1998 and the DVD was released on June 16, 1998.

External links

• Official website
• Flubber at IMDb
• Flubber at AllMovie
• Flubber at Rotten Tomatoes
• Flubber at Box Office Mojo
• Flubber Film Location - Professor's home