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  • Writer's pictureKelly M. Hudson

Move That Target!


Toby (Jason Bateman) is a teen kid who is in a garage rock band that’s trying to make it big. His dad works for some big finance company so the family is well-off enough to send him to a music camp for part of the summer. He doesn’t want to go because he’s into rock n’ roll not classical, and he’s got a crush on the newest member of the band, Megan (Chynna Phillips). While gone, he discovers that his band has gotten a write-up in the local L.A. paper and he needs to get back home to gig with them. Things are taking off and he’s not a part of it. So he slips away from music camp and arrives home after a long journey, not telling his parents or anyone else. He walks into an empty house. The furniture is gone. His parents are gone. Everything is cleaned out. Oh, and now there’s a group of bounty hunters looking to capture him. It seems his dad was helping to launder money for the mob and he turned evidence, so the family was taken into protective custody and the Feds were on their way to secure Toby when he took off from music camp. Now he’s on his own and must evade the killers and find his family, with a little help from Megan.

If you’re a fan of mullets, boy do I have a movie for you. Nearly every young guy has them in this flick. Moving Target is a weird little movie. It’s part 80s feel-good teen comedy, part espionage thriller, and altogether odd. There’s plenty of intrigue and action, all mired in a L.A. 80s milieu, and there’s a bit of romance and humorous stuff. But overall it doesn’t really gel effectively. The individual parts fire just fine but combined together, they don’t quite fit. It’s not a bad movie by any means (especially for a made-for-tv one), just sort of off. Bateman is charming as ever and you can see he was a star just waiting to happen. Phillips is great as His Girl Friday, smart, cute, funny, and very resourceful. The band they are a part of is so important at the beginning, but other than Toby’s best friend playing a vital part for a bit, they’re pretty much forgotten. As is his family. I guess they’re not that important to the action going on at the front of the screen, but it takes away the added depth that was provided in the build-up. I also want to point out that the main bad guy in this (Jack Wagner) is terrific as the featured bounty hunter. He’s suave and funny and deadly as hell. There’s a scene where he dispatches a main character that is as chilling as it is breezy.

So file this one with 80s flicks like Cloak And Dagger, or even Wargames. This is the story of a teen boy getting into deep trouble with some sort of powerful outside agency, and how he gets out of it. Not a great movie by any means, Moving Target is worth a Saturday matinee viewing when you’re lazing around at home, not daring to move from the couch. And like I said, the mullet-parade alone is enough to recommend this one.

★★☆☆



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