norman

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A Switch In Time /
Norman's Awesome Experience (1988)

Director: Paul Donovan

Writer: Paul Donovan

Cast: Laurie Paton, Jacques Lussier, Brian Downey

Character: Norman

Billing: 1st

Plot: Eighties Geneva, Switzerland. "Rockabily hipster" Norman, who just happens to be a nuclear physicist, is seduced by a fashion model and lets her and the photographer Umberto into the lab. Unfortunately Norman's slightly mad fellow scientist is trying to win the Nobel Prize that afternoon, and the three of them get zapped back in time to the Roman Empire.

Review: Firstly, it's not as bad as it sounds. Well, okay, it is, and I personally hated it the first time around, but it kinda grows on you, and in fact is fairly original as time travel movies go. Admittedly Norman brings rock n roll to the unwashed masses, but that's about the extent of the Back To The Future rip offs. For a start, no one even attempts to get back home, leaving a good hour amongst the Tribe That Sings And Screws A Lot, some bizarre Roman social structures, "how to invent a printing press without really trying" and a good deal of Roy Orbison. The film succeeds where its wackiness is just about plausible, and the bickering between Norman, the perpetually annoying Erica and the petulant Umberto stops just short of being annoying. However, the scenes in Rome are dated (however odd that might sound) and just not very interesting or funny, and the end battle seems to go on and on... It's a fun movie, and Tom in his one "teen idol" role holds down the fort, but it's ultimately a missed opportunity, either for increased wackiness or a more serious social satire.

Trivia: Not filmed in Geneva, but in the wilds of Toronto. The only movie as far as I know where Tom gets to sing. Norman is also apparently a drummer, but they never let him near a drumkit. Also starring David Hemblen, of The Sweet Hereafter and I Love A Man In Uniform. Brian Downey and director Paul Donovan went on to do LEXX. One of the very few movies partially fimed in Latin.

As for those songs... The two that Tom sings are: Hank Williams' "Hey, Good Lookin'" and the theme song from Roger Ramjet. Feel free to cringe.