Lake Placid

A fussy, mosquito-phobic New York paleontologist (Fonda) is sent to investigate what looks like a dinosaur tooth found after a fatal attack on a diver at Black Lake. Joining forces with a smooth game warden (Pullman) and a grouchy sheriff (Gleeson), they go in search of the ‘dinosaur’.

Humour was a key dramatic strength of Jaws, from the drunken fishermen on the jetty to the verbal sparring between Hooper and Quint. With this in mind, Hollywood’s latest post-modern take on the old-fashioned monster movie is not so novel – nor is it as difficult to take seriously. Lake Placid, a modest summer hit in the States (four weeks in the Top 20), is easily summarised as The Big Crocodile Movie, but a more informative shorthand might be Eating Ally McBeal, since TV script supremo David E. Kelley has taken the easy, knowing, urban wit of his hit show and transplanted it to the picturesque sticks of Maine… read more >