Innerspace

For other uses, see Inner space (disambiguation).

Innerspace
Directed by	Joe Dante
Produced by	Michael Finnell
Screenplay by	Jeffrey Boam Chip Proser
Story by	Chip Proser
Starring	Dennis Quaid Martin Short Meg Ryan John Hora
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography	Andrew Laszlo
Editing by	Kent Beyda
Studio	Amblin Entertainment
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	July 1, 1987 (1987-07-01)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$25,893,810 (domestic)

Innerspace is a 1987 science fiction comedy film directed by Joe Dante and produced by Michael Finnell. Steven Spielberg served as executive producer. The film was inspired by the classic 1966 science fiction film Fantastic Voyage. It stars Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Robert Picardo and Kevin McCarthy, with music composed by Jerry Goldsmith. The tension between the conventional hero who is miniaturized and the "wimp" he is injected into helps produce the film's humour. It had $25,893,810 of domestic gross revenue and won an Oscar, the only film directed by Joe Dante to do so. It was subsequently novelized by Nathan Elliott.

Plot

Down-on-his-luck naval aviator Tuck Pendleton (Quaid) is selected to participate in a secret miniaturization experiment. He is placed in a submersible pod, and he and the pod are shrunk to microscopic size. They are transferred into a syringe to be injected into a rabbit, but the lab is attacked. The experiment supervisor Ozzie Wexler (John Hora) escapes with the syringe. After being fatally shot in a nearby shopping mall, he injects Tuck and the pod into Jack Putter (Short), a hypochondriac grocery store clerk. The pod's equipment enables Tuck to see what Jack sees by connecting to Jack's optic nerve and to communicate with Jack through his inner ear. The pod has only a few hours' supply of oxygen. With Tuck's guidance, Jack finds Tuck's recently estranged girlfriend, Lydia Maxwell (Ryan).

At the lab, the scientists explain to Tuck and Jack that another group wants to sell the miniaturization technology for use in espionage. In the raid on the lab, they stole one of two computer chips that are vital to the process. The group's mastermind is Victor Scrimshaw (Kevin McCarthy), and his henchmen are the "Cowboy" (Robert Picardo) and Mr. Igoe (Vernon Wells).

Using the pod's equipment, Tuck controls the muscles of Jack's face to make it look like the Cowboy's, and with Jack posing as the Cowboy, they meet with Scrimshaw and steal the chip from him. However, Jack's nervousness overrides the transformation, exposing the scam. Igoe captures Jack and Lydia and takes them to the lab, where the criminals miniaturize Igoe and inject him into Jack's body to extract the second chip, which is inside Tuck's pod.

Jack and Lydia escape, and Jack fights his way past the guards and steals the chip back, accidentally shrinking Scrimshaw and his associates to midget size in the process. Igoe finds and attacks Tuck's pod, but Tuck disables Igoe's craft, and when Igoe abandons the craft and clings to Tuck's pod, Tuck kills him by dropping into Jack's stomach, where Igoe is dissolved by Jack's digestive fluids.

With only minutes of oxygen left in the pod, Jack follows Tuck's instructions to eject the pod from his lungs by making himself sneeze. Tuck and the pod are enlarged, and Tuck later marries Lydia, with Jack as his best man. The film ends with an open finale in which the Cowboy drives Tuck and Lydia's limousine, with Scrimshaw and his assistant Margaret, still miniaturized, stowed away in the car's trunk. Now confident and in control of his life, Jack recognizes the Cowboy and jumps into Tuck's car to rescue the newlyweds.

Cast

• Dennis Quaid as Lt. Tuck Pendleton
• Martin Short as Jack Putter
• Meg Ryan as Lydia Maxwell
• Kevin McCarthy as Victor Scrimshaw
• Fiona Lewis as Dr. Margaret Canker
• Robert Picardo as The Cowboy
• Vernon Wells as Mr. Igoe
• Henry Gibson as Mr. Wormwood
• William Schallert as Dr. Greenbrush
• Wendy Schaal as Wendy
• Harold Sylvester as Pete Blanchard
• Mark L. Taylor as Dr. David Niles
• John Hora as Ozzie Wexler
• Orson Bean as Lydia's Editor
• Kevin Hooks as Duane Florney
• John Laskay as Scrimshaw's Henchman 1
• Frank A. Miller as Scrimshaw's Henchman 2
• Dick Miller as Cab Driver
• Neil Ross as Pod computer (voice)

Awards

• 1988 Best Visual Effects, Won
• 1988 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films: Best Director, Best Science Fiction Film, Best Special Effects, nominated

Box office and reception

The movie had a mixed to positive reception. Currently, the review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 79% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 34 reviews, with an average score of 6.6/10 and the critical consensus: "A manic, overstuffed blend of sci-fi, comedy, and romance, Innerspace nonetheless charms, thanks to Martin Short's fine performance and the insistent zaniness of the plot." It has a 83% among "Top Critics".

Themes

Darian Leader comments, "In the science fantasy Innerspace, a wimp is turned into a real man by having a miniature submarine injected into his bloodstream. The pilot of the submarine is by no means a wimp and the tension between pilot and host organism provides much of the film's humour. But what matters here is less the fact that the sub is piloted by an authentic 'hero' than that something symbolic, a production of science, has been incorporated into the body. To be a man means to have a body plus something symbolic, something which is not ultimately human."

External links

• Innerspace at the Internet Movie Database
• Innerspace at AllRovi
• Innerspace at Box Office Mojo
• Innerspace at Rotten Tomatoes