Cheap Lake Placid (Widescreen Edition) (DVD) (Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt) (Steve Miner) Price

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Customer Reviews of Lake Placid (Widescreen Edition)

This is the story of a 30 foot croc that attracts the attention of the law, a fish guy, a museum girl and a very rich eccentric after it rips a beaver tagger in half. Now this disparate bunch can give lessons in sarcasm and as you would expect they just do not get on.

But how does a croc get to Maine? Well that is one question you have to figure out for yourself (although there is a clue at the end). The film borrows (ever so slightly) from Jaws and has some fantastic scenes (when the croc grabs the bear for example).

Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt and Brendan Gleeson play their parts straight to hilarious effect. Stan Winston's effects are so much better than many monster movies but the prize has to go to Betty White's Mrs Bickerman. She really steals the show.

You want to laugh out loud - well you have got to see this!

WHAT A HOWLER!
This is one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time, and even though it's supposed to be a "horror" movie, I think some people missed the point. David Kelley's incredible black humor buoys the whocares plot; the alligator or is upstaged by the actors, for once. From the initial explanation for the name of the lake (which is NOT Lake Placid) is hilarious. I guess Kelley felt a movie named "Black Lake" wouldn't draw as much attention. Anyway, he assembled a great cast, and gives them such unusual and fun dialogue. Bridget Fonda is great as the paleontoligist who is sent off to Maine to examine a tooth; the true New Yorker, she can't tolerate mosquitoes, ticks, or snakes. Oliver Platt goes over the edge in his role as the millionaire crocodile hunter, and has as much fun as I did. Bill Pullman for once gets to play the straight man and if he looks bored, who cares? Especially with the wonderful addition of Irishman Brendan Gleeson as the sheriff. He has some great bantering with both Platt and Fonda. Betty White proves to be a golden girl still as she chews up the scenery in her brief, but memorable, screen time. The profanities coming out of this long-cherished "sweetie" are so unique, they're not the least bit offensive.
The special effects are mundane, and the music is a hopefully intended rip-off of John Williams' "Jaws" score, but "Lake Placid" made me laugh so much I had to give it the highest rating! That's what entertainment is all about!

More Funny than Scary
I am looking for this movie because I want to buy it for my son who has seen "Jaws" already for the millionth time and I am afraid he will wear the disc out if I don't get him another comprable movie. This is the movie that I thought of that can match "Jaws" becuase it's sort of that fun, boo-scare-you, flick. It doesn't take itself seriously and the movie is full of interesting characters played by big name actors. What stood up for me is Betty White. Hands down she is the gem of this movie. It's like she won the "funny lines" lottery when they handed out the scripts. She plays a Lake resident who's husband is missing and the way she finally tells what happenned to him was so funny I was rolling on the floor. Oliver Platt got annoying, a little bit but thank god Bridget Fonda and Bill Paxton interceded with their likeable characters. I've rented this movie when it first came out on DVD and thought about buying it to include in my slumber party collection and I think this is the way this movie is going to get resurrected, through people who have a enough sense of humour and who knows what an excellent "giant animal ran amok" movie is all about. Gingerly place this next to your "Jaws," "Godzillas," "Tremors" on your DVD shelf, it belongs there.