Main Cast: Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah, Sam Neill, Michael McKean, Stephen Tobolowsky
Release Year: 1992
Country: US
Run Time: 99 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Chevy Chase stars, though not always visibly, as Nick Halloway, a low-level businessman with an acerbic approach to life and work, whose humdrum existence utterly bores him. Nick gets an unexpected jolt of excitement when, nursing a hangover, he's the only one not to evacuate an office building that becomes a disaster area after a mishap involving nuclear testing equipment. An unexpected by-product of the accident is that it turns the molecules of the building, as well as Nick and the clothes he's wearing, transparent. When a team of shady government agents, led by David Jenkins (Sam Neill), notices that a human has been turned invisible, they try to take him into custody, planning to use him as the most dangerous secret intelligence agent the world has ever known. Distrusting their motives, the frantic and confused Nick escapes, and quickly begins learning new information about his unusual condition, such pragmatic details as trying to sleep when he can see through his eyelids and any unprocessed food he eats will give him away. Soon, however, he discovers that the scientist in charge of the experiments (Jim Norton) has no idea how to return him to normal, and begins plotting how best to live a semblance of a normal life while steering clear of his pursuers. Nick involves a beautiful woman he met the night before the accident (Daryl Hannah) in his dilemma, and soon she too becomes a target. Memoirs of an Invisible Man was adapted from a book by H.F. Saint. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Review
Those who viewed the underrated Memoirs of an Invisible Man as a comedy without any laughs, and subsequently trashed it, got it all wrong. Despite the presence of funnyman Chevy Chase and a mis-categorization at the video store, this isn't a comedy at all; the involvement of director John Carpenter should have been a firm tip-off that it was meant as an effects thriller about the weird or unknown. On that score, it's a tight little package that touches on most of the fascinating issues about invisibility, notably the central conundrum that theoretically unlimited freedom is an empty proposition when it requires loneliness and loss of identity. Most invisibility movies are just a pretext for special effects wizards to visualize what things look like when handled, worn, or knocked over by a person who can't be seen, and Memoirs of an Invisible Man doesn't always delve deeper than this surface gimmick. But the script, by William Goldman, Robert Collector, and Dana Olsen, exists as a generally intelligent chase story that never stretches suspension of disbelief beyond the basic premise. Chase's gumshoe narration typifies his sober approach to the material, and in a way, it's regrettable that his attempts received such a critical slap in the face because he hasn't since ventured beyond pratfalls and one-liners. It's no classic, but Memoirs of an Invisible Man has ten times the intellect and soul of Paul Verhoeven's big-budget slasher approach to the same topic, the maddening dud Hollow Man (2000). ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Jim Norton - Dr. Bernard Wachs; Sam Anderson - Chairman of the House Committee; Steven Barr - Clellan; Rosalind Chao - Cathy DiTolla; Elaine Corral - News Anchor; Ellen Albertini Dow - Mrs. Coulson; Shay Duffin - Patrick the Bartender; Richard Epcar - Tyler; Jay Gerber - Roger Whitman; Rip Haight - Helicopter Pilot; Patricia Heaton - Ellen; Chip Heller - Man Who Hails Taxi; I.M. Hobson - Maitre d'; Barry Kivel - Drunk Businessman; Donald Li - Cab Driver; Aaron Lustig - Technician; Gregory Paul Martin - Richard; Edmund L. Shaff - Edward Schneiderman; Pat Skipper - Morrissey; Jonathan Wigan - Delivery Boy; John Carpenter - Helicopter Pilot; Paul Perri - Gomez; Sharon Howard-Field
Credit
Bruce Crone - Art Director, Joe Tompkins - Costume Designer, John Carpenter - Director, Marion Rothman - Editor, Shirley Walker - Composer (Music Score), Lawrence G. Paull - Production Designer, William A. Fraker - Cinematographer, Arnon Milchan - Producer, Bruce Bodner - Producer, Dan Kolsrud - Producer, Lauren Polizzi - Set Designer, Rick Simpson - Set Designer, Elizabeth Lapp - Set Designer, Bruce Nicholson - Special Effects, Scott E. Anderson - Special Effects, James R. Alexander - Sound/Sound Designer, James M. Halty - Stunts, Chuck Picerni, Jr. - Stunts, Robert Collector - Screenwriter, William Goldman - Screenwriter, Dana Olsen - Screenwriter, H.F. Saint - Book Author, Ted Chu - Assistant Camera
Memoirs of an Invisible Man is a 1992 film directed by John Carpenter and released by Warner Bros., with many scenes taking place in and around San Francisco. The film is based on a 1987 novel of the same name by H.F. Saint. According to William Goldman's book Which Lie Did I Tell?, the film was initially developed for director Ivan Reitman; however, this version never came to fruition, due to disagreements between Reitman and Chevy Chase.
Narrated by the main character, Nick Halloway (Chevy Chase) is a devoted bachelor and businessman. After meeting (and subsequently falling for) a family friend of a business associate, Alice Monroe (Darryl Hannah), he drinks himself "silly" and becomes hung over the following morning. With a mandatory business conference breathing down his neck, Nick attends with serious reluctance. In an attempt to relieve him of his pain, he decides to nap in a sauna adjacent to the men's bathroom. Unbeknownst to him, a laboratory within the building devoted to research and experimentation in magnetism has an experiment go haywire. The failed experiment has the consequences of nearly turning every object invisible. This creates widespread panic. Consequently, everyone evacuates the building. However, Nick, who has been sleeping through the entire incident, now finds himself completely transparent, unable to see his body or many tangible objects in the building. Like it or not, Nick is now an invisible man.
Meanwhile, emergency crews turn up at the site – as well as US Government officials, led by the less-than-ethical David Jenkins (Sam Neill) who discovers Halloway and his new found ability. Convinced that Halloway has the potential to work with the CIA as the world's first invisible agent, Jenkins tries to recruit Nick as part of their covert operations and, in the process, proves he will stop at nothing to do so in coldblooded fashion. As the story progresses, Nick's romance with Alice deepens and soon both find themselves on the run from the government and the relentless Jenkins. At the story's conclusion, Halloway realizes that his invisibility can never be reversed. He must now adjust to a new life as a permanently invisible man.
