17-year-old Scott Howard is a typical teenager, or so he thinks. If being continually overshadowed on his basketball team by better players wasn't bad enough, amongst other problems. He soon learns that his family has a bizarre secret. Discovering that he is descended from a long line of werewolves, and before he knows it, once his secret is out he finds himself becoming a local celebrity, and the star player in his team. However, Scott eventually learns that being the Big Man or in this case "Wolf" Isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
One of a slough of 80's teen comedies to have bombared cinema theatres back in the day, Teen Wolf was essentially nothing more than a vehicle for Michael J. Fox, who had made something of a name for his self in the sitcom Family Ties. It's rather curious that it would be released just a few short months, before he'd hit it big, albeit it releatively briefly with Back to the Future. A movie which this forgettable so-so effort would be overshadowed by, although it was successful enough at the box office that it managed to earn itself a god awful sequel as well as a tawdry, short lived animated series. And would inspired a underwhelming MTV TV series.
It goes without saying that Teen Wolf is fanciful fluff and coasts off the charisma and charm of Fox, who manages to more or less carry what is really just another hackneyed, formulaic teen comedy with it's lycanthropic plot being nothing more than a shallow gimmick. All the old chestnuts associated with movies of this ilk are all present and correct with Fox being the lad from the wrong side of the tracks, who is put upon by the local bully, and who is shunned by the beautiful popular girl who he lusts after. He is seemingly oblivious to the fact that his close childhood friend Boof has feelings for him, and from there you pretty much know where the plot, which involves his his Basketball team taking part in the High School Championships is going. The movie's screenpaly pretty much writes itself.
Needless to say that Fox's angst ridden protagonist goes through something of a personal passage of self discovery before the movie reaches it's cliched conclusion. One that is replete with a cheesy a-typical 80's musical montage. There is also a sense that the whole conceit of Scott being a Werewolf is never completely used to its fullest.
The supporting cast which includes Jerry Levine as Scott's Fonzi-esque best friend Stiles acquit themselves just fine, but it probably says something that there individual carreers haven't amounted to much or that they quit acting completely. It probably comes as no surprise either that it would spawn several low-rent imitations with the likes of Teen Vamp and My Best friend is a Vampire. Teen Wolf is nothing more than a footnote in Fox's early career, and one that would ultimately peak with the Back to the Future Trilogy. It's nothing more than passable, generic fodder that after having done watching it, you'll be hard pressed to really remember shortly after having done so.
One of a slough of 80's teen comedies to have bombared cinema theatres back in the day, Teen Wolf was essentially nothing more than a vehicle for Michael J. Fox, who had made something of a name for his self in the sitcom Family Ties. It's rather curious that it would be released just a few short months, before he'd hit it big, albeit it releatively briefly with Back to the Future. A movie which this forgettable so-so effort would be overshadowed by, although it was successful enough at the box office that it managed to earn itself a god awful sequel as well as a tawdry, short lived animated series. And would inspired a underwhelming MTV TV series.
It goes without saying that Teen Wolf is fanciful fluff and coasts off the charisma and charm of Fox, who manages to more or less carry what is really just another hackneyed, formulaic teen comedy with it's lycanthropic plot being nothing more than a shallow gimmick. All the old chestnuts associated with movies of this ilk are all present and correct with Fox being the lad from the wrong side of the tracks, who is put upon by the local bully, and who is shunned by the beautiful popular girl who he lusts after. He is seemingly oblivious to the fact that his close childhood friend Boof has feelings for him, and from there you pretty much know where the plot, which involves his his Basketball team taking part in the High School Championships is going. The movie's screenpaly pretty much writes itself.
Needless to say that Fox's angst ridden protagonist goes through something of a personal passage of self discovery before the movie reaches it's cliched conclusion. One that is replete with a cheesy a-typical 80's musical montage. There is also a sense that the whole conceit of Scott being a Werewolf is never completely used to its fullest.
The supporting cast which includes Jerry Levine as Scott's Fonzi-esque best friend Stiles acquit themselves just fine, but it probably says something that there individual carreers haven't amounted to much or that they quit acting completely. It probably comes as no surprise either that it would spawn several low-rent imitations with the likes of Teen Vamp and My Best friend is a Vampire. Teen Wolf is nothing more than a footnote in Fox's early career, and one that would ultimately peak with the Back to the Future Trilogy. It's nothing more than passable, generic fodder that after having done watching it, you'll be hard pressed to really remember shortly after having done so.