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Anyone who wants to know what would Mary Shelley’s *Frankenstein* would look like if reimagined as romantic comedy might take a look at *Creator*, 1985 film directed by Ivan Passer. The plot is based on eponymous novel by Jeremy Leven, who also wrote the screenplay. The title character is Dr. Harry Wolper (played by Peter O’Toole), brilliant scientist and Nobel laureate who works at unnamed Southern Californian university. He is also quite eccentric and obsessed with the idea of cloning wife who has been dead for almost thirty years. His reputation created difficulties in getting funds and staff for the project, so he has to settle with Boris Lafkin (played by Vincent Spano), young pre-med student as his assistant. Another person recruited is Meli (played by Mariel Hemingway), young and free-spirited woman who volunteers to donate her eggs for the experiment, but soon starts to fall in love with the scientist. In the meantime, Boris also finds a love of his life in the form of beautiful student Barbara Spencer (played by Virginia Madsen), but his bliss is interrupted when Barbara suddenly gets ill.


This film had an interesting idea, but like in so many cases, an interesting idea wasn’t enough. The main problem for *Creator* is authors’ indecision. It seems that they were at odds whether they are making genuine science fiction exploring ethical and practical aspects of cloning, sentimental melodrama or a lame attempt of satire directed at office politics in American academia. Czech director Ivan Passer is least interested in the first, puts too much emphasis on the second and usually fails at the third, best embodied in one-dimensional character of Dr. Sid Kullenbeck, Wolper’s main rival who is played by usually dependable David Ogden Stiers, here degraded into forgettable comic villain. Peter O’Toole, one of the most tragically underrated actors of late 20th Century, is great as character who is obviously insane yet charming enough to convincingly win the heart of a woman young enough to be his daughter. That can’t be said of Vincent Spano, actor who appears to be cast mostly thanks to his good looks and who tries too hard to convince critics otherwise by going into serious over-acting, especially in the second half of the film. Passer as director has serious problems with pacing, making *Creator* look overlong. Soundtrack by Sylvester Levay, composer best known for 1970s disco hits, doesn’t help and make this film sound cheaper than it really is. O’Toole’s great performance and somewhat satisfactory ending make *Creator* watchable, but not enough to be recommended to viewers who aren’t primarily interested in rare Hollywood experiments. 


RATING: 4/10 (++)



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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/41243-creator
Critic: AA


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