Dream Machine (1991)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Blistering performances.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Just to start, previous people who write critical reviews should at least have the decency of getting the character names correct (Its Barry, not Bernie)I have only ever liked Corey Haim in films such as A Time to Live, Lucas and Silver Bullet, however this film is simply made to be entertaining and to appeal to a target audience of teenage girls!! I have watched this film and the most entertaining character was Lance (the embezzler) his frantic attempts to recover the car and the body in the trunk really are very entertaining. So even if your not a fan of Corey Haim, watch it just for the character Lance!!

I hope the viewer who regards 'Dream Machine' as one of Corey Haim's finest and the "best movies of the century" was kidding. Undetected sarcasm on my part? I sincerely hope so.'The Dream Machine' marks the first of a long line of mediocre capers that would plague the rest of Corey Haim's career (except 'Prayer of the Rollerboys' which was surprisingly decent). Here, Haim plays nonchalant college boy, Bernie, who supposes that a cool car will attract his dream girl's attention. Lucky for Bernie, a rich woman aiming to get back at her cheating husband, hastily decides to reward her faithful piano tuner--Bernie--with a gift: a slick Porsche Turbo. However, unbeknownst to the woman, and unfortunate for Bernie, is that her dead husband was murdered and his body was hidden in the trunk. Now, being that in this movie, bodies don't seem to decay or possess a rather foul funk, Bernie is unaware of this. In fact, the oblivious boy has no idea that something suspicious is afoot despite several odd circumstances that arise. In particular, a grizzly man follows him around, desperate to get hold of that body relatively undetected.This is a low-grade action fizzle as many of Haim's films like this are (see The Double O Kid). Despite being part action, part romantic comedy, this movie fails to offer the viewer much of anything of interest for at least the first forty-five minutes in which the filmmakers take more than enough time to show the immediate problem (i.e. Bernie being in possession of a car and a dead body, and a hit-man finding out that the Porsche is going to be hard to find). After which, and thanks to poor acting by Haim (I loved this kid, too, but it's not exactly sacrilegious to admit the times when he obviously couldn't act well) and the lack of real immediacy and emergency between Bernie and the villain that makes much of the events unconvincing and as a result, inappreciable. To add injury to insult, the soundtrack was unbelievably laughable and sounded more like self-evident songs you would hear in Team America (see the 'date' montage).Loyal Corey Haim fans, however, should not be disappointed to see their boy in abundance. However, others understanding that Haim's career probably peaked when he was 14 or 15 and never recovered, might expect mediocrity, as will viewers just looking for early 90s b-comedy fluff to pass the time.

I'm a big Porsche fan, and the car was the best star in this film.Haim, the now dried up drug abusing child star of the 80's is bland as per usual, and commenting on back up from minor characters/actors would be pointless; needless to say they were all very average. It's a cool movie as a trip down memory lane into the 80's - with some weird clothes, some good shots of the Colorado backdrop and a very harmless albeit mind numbing plot.All in all, please don't waste your time watching this unless you love 80's movies, Corey Haim, or like myself, love old school Porsches (this one in particular looks great) because life's too short to watch crappy movies.

Perfect car. Perfect girl. Perfect murder ... Almost! Wow! An intruging plot and terrific storyline. The movie's called "Dream Machine" and it stars a fantastic young teen star named Corey Haim. The movie's about a college freshman named Barry Davis (Haim). His parents go away on a trip and leave him in charge of their piano tuning business. Cut to a hotel room where a rich man named Jack Chamberlain (Jeremy Slate) is getting killed by a fumbling accidental murderer named Lance Harper (Randall England). Lance kills him and then hides him in the trunk of Jack's turbo charged Porsche.Previous to the killing, Margo Chamberlain (Susan Seaforth Hayes), Jack's wife, finds out he's been cheating on her and that he is at the hotel with another woman. So she was going to go down to the hotel room to confront him about it. But he wasn't there! (He was already dead). And then she sees the Porsche and decides to drive it home, not knowing there was Jack's dead body in the trunk!The next day, Margo is very mad about Jack's cheating, and to make matters worse, Jack didn't come home that night. Barry then came over to tune her piano. After he was done tuning, she saw Barry in awe over the new, 1 week old Porsche. She had just bought it for Jack as a birthday present! To get him back for cheating on her, she decided to give the Porsche to Barry! That's how he recieved the Dream Machine. (With a corpse in the trunk).Him and his friend Meese (Evan Richards) drove around Colorado looking for chicks with it! Anyway, Lance found out that Barry had the car and would do anything to get it back from him! To make matters worse, the girl he loved, Robin (Brittney Lewis) hated his guts and the head fraternity man (Tracy Fraim) was after him playing weird pranks on him. Barry started to get freaked out because Margo turned up dead (killed by Lance) and there was a weird guy always chasing after him (also Lance).Everything results to a pulse-pounding showdown. "Dream Machine" is a really great movie filled with thrills, chills and amazing action-suspense! Corey Haim is absolutely excellent! Even better than his performance in the highly acclaimed "License To Drive". His performance of Barry is right on. Newcomer Brittney Lewis is also very good and Evan Richards provides good support. The writer, Eric Hendershot, is a genius and should be involved in Hollywood big budget movies! The director, Lyman Dayton, is also very extraordinary. But once again Corey Haim steals the show! ***** (five stars), one of the best movies of the century! I highly recommend it for anybody in the world or a Haim fan.