"Make like a tree... and get outta here!"

Rating: 7/10 (27 August 2000)

I always regard the eighties as the weakest decade for movies. Short running times were filled out with one dimensional characters and thin plots, patronising audiences with their banality. Some thought John Hughes was a genius, and everyone liked Arnold Schwarzenegger. Thankfully, there were the occasional gems in the mire, and Back to the Future – a family film with daring themes of incest and attempted rape – is one of them.
Michael J.Fox is excellent as Marty, though you can't help thinking someone as boyish and short could never really be so cool. And I always thought it was irresponsible for a film to show such potentially fatal activities as skateboarding on the back of vehicles. Then again, how sensible can you be when your main songs are by Huey Lewis and the News?
Still, eighties haircuts and braces as fashion statements not withstanding, this film holds up remarkably well. The heavily signposted coincidences and plot developments are fun, while the support work well, particularly Crispin Glover as Marty's dad. A number of "blink and you'll miss it" pieces add to the enjoyment, especially an advert on the back of a newspaper Marty picks up – which can only be seen clearly via freeze-frame – proclaiming: "You'll be noticed driving the car of the future".
Direction could occasionally afford to be a little more cinematic in its approach (note how Marty films the Doc's experiment on a camcorder but we never see the camera's perspective; possibly because it's an obviously fake camera with no recording light) but generally it's sound. Christopher Lloyd's overacting could also grow irritating for some. Evidence of mild product placement does not really hinder the piece, and the evocation of 50's Middle America is quite charming.
Maybe there's the nagging feeling that – now fifteen years old – the film's cultural parodies seem hopelessly naive in their application. Constant references to Star Wars, Ronald Reagan and Jackie Gleason don't seem as fresh or relevant as they once did.
Back to the Future is an okay film, and an amusing diversion. But its lack of realistic characterisation and mainstream trappings make it an entertaining pile of fluff, nothing more.