Review of Back to the Future (1985) by Jenna I — 29 Jul 2014

Okay, so I watched Back To The Future for the first time at the age of 27, and I have a lot of questions. Like, first off, it was an enjoyable movie, I didn't dislike it at all... I mean, it's shot like a Disney ride so it's defacto enjoyable. It's all done well-the references are amusing and the sets are well done. But I definitely have a bunch of questions because this movie was so weird:

First- Michael J Fox is such a weird casting choice. Like, Marty's from this family of established losers and yet he's portrayed as the like rebellious cool kid in school who has just enough insecurity and self-awareness that he's down to earth, he has a super hot girlfriend and he skateboards and plays guitar.... BUT he's Michael J Fox???? aka he's like 4'11" and looks like he's probably only going to get shorter as he gets older somehow??? Like, the casting is just so strange to me for that sort of character. Like Marty McFly is 'cool.' Michael J Fox is... not. Then in the updated end-of-movie reality the casting seems even WEIRDER because they're all still weird looking but they're now meant to be cool??? I don't buy it.

I get that most of them were cast for comedic reasons but I didn't laugh once in this movie except for the line about the uncle as a baby "better get used to those bars." Runner up joke is the Reagan president line. Like it wasn't a funny movie at all to me... though maybe it was also just not my sense of humor.

Second- Why is this 16 year old hanging out with a 70 year old man who hasn't aged since the 50s? (How has Doc not aged?! He looks exactly the same and they even SAY he waits 30 years to meet Marty again.. also do they imply Einstein is over 30 years old or does he just name every dog Einstein). I understand there's a time loop in which he met him when he was back in time which is why they now hang out later in life but that's such a strange mix. Like, why is that just socially acceptable? Why is there just like an eccentric genius living in town? Nobody questions it, in fact his principle even flat out tells him to stay away from the town genius... why??? He's a town genius. Why aren't they all flocking around him? Everybody in this movie is so strongly cartoony and hangs out for cartoon reasons of "because!" Which is okay for me, but just strikes me as super weird because they also conform strongly to normal conventions otherwise.

Speaking of that time loop, why don't his parents remember him and have time travel suspicions. And why did it take them three children to name the kid Marty? The older brother should have been named Calvin, that would have been clever. Speaking of Calvin, why didn't they ever think like "woah, Calvin Klein, Darth Vader, Vulcan... all of these things came true" or maybe they did and they're in therapy now? I'll let this one slide.

Third- Why Libyan terrorists?????????????? Was that meant to be 'funny' too?? Like "oh lookat those brown skins! they're always up to terror!" I get that we were dealing with Qaddafi back in the 80s but like it seems like a really weird choice for a wacky bad guys driving an outdated Volkswagon van in a kids movie about time travel. Like why couldn't it have just been the FBI? Or even like, I don't know, the mob or something? Or they could have left that whole part out and just had something explode in Doc's face instead of him being GUNNED DOWN. Then Marty could have warned him like "beware of shrapnel!!!" and he wears a bullet proof vest or whatever. Like, it felt like unnecessary 'drama' in a movie that was like somewhere in between a kids film and a movie that has terrorists and says 'shit' a lot.

Fourth- This is probably just why I don't understand 80s movies in general but I don't understand these pro-Suburbia films that revolve around characters who conform so strongly to social conventions. Like, Marty is meant to be a bit of a rebel but when he rebels it's just so that he can marry the same girl from high school and move into the suburbs and raise a family and have kids. Like what exactly are you rebelling against then??? "Dad, I'm going to play loud music so I can eventually become you! Suck it!!!" I mean I guess this is just how people live their lives anyhow, but it's definitely an 80s Reagan era theme. Watching movies like this and to understand the circular logic of the human race is like the quickest way to make me feel like an extraterrestrial being observing another planet.