And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird

And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird

In one way at least, “And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird” is a pioneer: it’s the first movie since “Real Genius” (1985) to have a pretty girl fall in love with a computer nerd just because he’s smart. The film is about two brothers, Josh and Max (Joshua Miller and Edan Gross), who win the local science fair by building a robotic garbage can, then top themselves by constructing a robot called Newman.

The movie could supply the plots for half dozen films, as it happens; Newman’s memory chips are invaded by the spirit of their father a computer genius who used to beat up on them before he died. They always thought he killed himself, but it turns out he was murdered which he reveals in the voice of Alan Thicke.

Meanwhile, they’re also up against the perennially triumphant Dwayne Kotzwinkle (who usually wins the science fair) and his father Walter (who looks like he should be an extra in “Deliverance”) not to mention their cute mother (Marcia Strassman from “Honey I Shrunk The Kids”), who’s engaged to marry a magazine writer and I haven’t even mentioned the plot involving the nosy TV anchorwoman or the subplot involving electronics tycoons.

“And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird” seems inspired by several different sources. The talking computer is from “2001” via “Look Who’s Talking.” The bright kids are from “Real Genius” via “Weird Science.” The clever, precocious robot is from “Short Circuit.” The high school rivalry is from every other high school movie ever made, etc., etc.; when mom has to choose between her boyfriend and the ghost of her dead husband, you can’t help but think about “Chances Are.”

Is it worth seeing on its own? Only marginally; it’s that kind of entertainment that seems like more fun on Nickelodeon than when you’ve paid for your ticket. Joshua Miller makes an interesting hero he’s intense, earnest and thoroughly adolescent and A.J. Langer brings a certain bounce to her tomboy girlfriend. But the plot is needlessly labyrinthine there are only so many schemes we can keep straight at a time and the physical stunts seem forced and unlikely. The parents in this movie are less weird than just about everybody else, which is strange enough in itself.

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