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| Senseless | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Penelope Spheeris |
| Written by | Greg Erb Craig Mazin |
| Produced by | David Hoberman |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Daryn Okada |
| Edited by | Ross Albert |
| Music by | Boris Blank |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million[citation needed] |
| Box office | $13,109,234 (USA)[1] |
Senseless is a 1998 American buddy comedy science fiction film directed by Penelope Spheeris and written by Greg Erb and Craig Mazin. The film stars Marlon Wayans and David Spade alongside Matthew Lillard, Brad Dourif, Tamara Taylor, and Rip Torn.
Darryl Witherspoon is an economics student at Stratford University, who does not have the advantages of his wealthy nemesis, Scott Thorpe, or his best friend Tim LaFlour, straight edge punk rocker who has a hockey scholarship. Darryl is so broke he donates four pints of blood in one day (playing a different character each time) and four vials of sperm in one day. Darryl's big break comes when he enters a competition, where the winner gets a high-paying Wall Street job. But when Scott enters the competition, it seems Darryl's break has gone down the drain. He takes on a high-paying experiment to test a drug that enhances the five senses. Darryl uses it to his advantage and he impresses the competition's supervisor, Mr. Tyson and he even joins the hockey team as a goalie. But after taking an extra dose one night, he experiences side effects. The experiment's supervisor, Dr. Thomas Wheedon, tells Darryl only four of his senses will work at a time until the drug leaves his body.
As Darryl struggles, Tim thinks that his friend is on heroin and gets worried about him. Darryl's luck then starts going down the drain as he loses the hockey game because his sense of sight is lost. He also mistakenly confesses love to his girlfriend's father who he thinks is his girlfriend as his sense of sight is lost. Her father turns out to be Mr. Tyson. He also acts very clumsily (because of the loss of the ability to see) during the basketball game he is invited to see with a client who needs to be impressed in order for Darryl to score some points with the Smythe-Bates guys. Luckily, the client thinks Darryl is just funny and signs a contract with the company.
As the story progresses, Darryl asks his friend Tim to help him study for the next day's interview. At that exact moment, Scott studies for the test with the aid of his rich father's employees. Scott is shown to answer a question correctly but he does not know the reason behind it, he ignores the question. The next day, the drug leaves Darryl's system and now all his five senses operate normally. During the interview, it comes down to Darryl and Scott, Scott is asked the same question he was asked last night, he answers it correctly, but when asked the reason, he does not know, Darryl steps in, gives the correct reason and scores the position of junior analyst at Smythe-Bates. But in his speech, he confesses that he cheated by taking an experimental drug. A meeting is called to decide his fate and Mr. Tyson tells him that he himself started out in the mail room and Darryl should too, if he serves one year duty in the mail room, he will score the position of junior analyst. The story skips a year and Darryl is shown to ask his mom to move into a deluxe apartment. The movie ends with Darryl entering the Smythe-Bates building on his first day, with a familiar-looking doorman.
Senseless was financed by Dimension Films/Miramax, and was the second movie idea Princeton University comedy writers Craig Mazin and Greg Erb had successfully pitched, with their first being the 1997 comedy RocketMan.[2] That film was produced by The Walt Disney Company, which since 1993 had owned Dimension/Miramax. Filming for Senseless began during June 1997 in Los Angeles.[3]
Senseless opened on February 20, 1998 and, in its opening weekend, made $5,337,651 at #5 behind Titanic's tenth weekend, The Wedding Singer's second, Sphere's second, and Good Will Hunting's twelfth.[4]
The film received negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 6% based on reviews from 17 critics.[5] On Metacritic the film has a score of 36% based on reviews from 13 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[7]
Roger Ebert gave the film 2.5 out of 4.[8][9][10]
The film was released on VHS by Dimension Home Video on August 11, 1998, with a DVD following on December 7, 1999. In 2005, Dimension was sold by Disney, with Disney then selling off the parent label Miramax in 2010. Miramax and the rights to the pre-October 2005 library of Dimension were subsequently taken over by private equity firm Filmyard Holdings that same year.[11] Filmyard sublicensed the home video rights for Senseless to Echo Bridge Entertainment, who released it on Blu-ray on January 27, 2013.[12] Echo Bridge also reissued several other Dimension and Miramax films on home video around this time.[13]
Miramax was then taken over by Qatari company beIN Media Group during March 2016.[14] In April 2020, ViacomCBS (now known as Paramount Skydance) acquired the rights to Miramax's library and Dimension's pre-October 2005 library, after buying a 49% stake in Miramax from beIN.[15] Paramount Home Entertainment went on to re-release many Dimension and Miramax titles on home video, and on July 23, 2024 they reissued Senseless on DVD.[16] It was also made available on Paramount's free streaming service Pluto TV.[17]
The Senseless soundtrack was released February 10, 1998 by Gee Street Records.
