Excess Baggage (1997)

Poor little (crazy) rich girl with Benicio Del Toro and Christopher Walken

RELEASED IN 1997 and directed by Marco Brambilla, "Excess Baggage" stars Alicia Silverstone as an eccentric 18 year-old in the Seattle area who fakes her own kidnapping to get her unloving father’s attention. She develops a relationship with an odd car thief (Benicio Del Toro) while her father enlists the even stranger “Uncle Ray” (Christopher Walken) to find her.

Alicia was 19 during shooting and a rising young superstar after a string of popular roles: A pubescent tease in “The Crush” (1993), a popular Beverly Hills adolescent in “Clueless” (1995), a wannabe Nancy Drew in “True Crime” (1995) and a hot superheroine in “Batman & Robin” (1997). “Excess Baggage” was Silverstone’s first movie after a pricey production deal with Columbia and it was strongly rumored that she clashed with director Brambilla. Originally slated for release in the Fall of 1996, it was pushed back to late the next Summer.

The movie starts confident & strong and could be likened to contemporaneous quirky flicks like “Buffalo ‘66” (1998). It regrettably fizzles out in the second half but, nevertheless, Alicia was in her physical prime with alluring curves. Unfortunately, she’s stuck with one basic outfit the entire film (form-fitting black pants). Much more could’ve and should’ve been done with her. On the other side of the gender spectrum, Del Toro is notable as the mumbling eccentric while Walken is intriguing and entertaining as a former CIA assassin who basically raised Emily (Silverstone) and is concerned about his employer’s aloofness.

THE FILM RUNS 101 minutes and was shot in British Columbia (Vancouver, Victoria & Britannia Beach) and Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta. WRITERS: Max D. Adams plus Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.

GRADE: C+