MYSTERY DATE (1991, 20.20 vision, 93 minutes) MYSTERY Date relies on a combination of youth appeal and teenage angst. Ethan Hawke plays a shy college student who manages to get a date with his dream girl Teri Polo thanks to the machinations of his brother. The date, the focal point of this film, turns sour when Hawke finds a body in the boot of the vintage convertible he borrows from his brother. The performances are more a function of casting rather than thespian ability. With Hawke and Polo basically reprising previous roles they have played, Mystery Date is a technically passable but ultimately uninspiring film. THE OPPOSITE SEX (1992, Guild Home Video, 83 minutes) THE Opposite Sex is also another dating film, but based on a different formula. Arye Gross and Courtney Cox play the couple whose relationship is the focus of The Opposite Sex. Almost the same as About Last Night, this film starts off with the couple getting off on the wrong foot, and finishing with the inevitable marriage proposal. Even the prelude to the finale, the split up, is the same. Unfortunately, The Opposite Sex achieves the impossible by being even less engaging than About Last Night. As for Gross and Cox, their dismal performances make Demi Moore and Rob Lowe look like Oscar winners. THE TOWER (1992, Fox Video, 87 minutes) THIS is Die Hard meets Demon Seed with the exception that while the super computer in Demon Seed is bent on committing a sex crime, the one in The Tower is positively a homicidal maniac. Paul Reiser plays a burnt-out whiz-kid, who after a few years of trying to make it as a musician, returns to the corporate world. But CAS, the super computer used to manage his hi-tech office building, develops an instant dislike for him - and decides tokill him. All this is little more than a flimsy excuse for Reiser to embark on a Die Hard -style escape. Unfortunately, the film fails to spring any surprises, nor is it able to move at a respectable pace. Although made four years later, The Tower does not even come close to rivalling the fun and excitement offered by Die Hard. -
