Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (1984)
Overdrawn at the Memory Bank fades from your memory as soon as the credits roll. That actually sort of works in its favor. Not remembering this poorly assembled sci-fi jumble desperately attempting to have some form of style is a relief
In a dystopian future, Aram Final (Raúl Juliá) is a programmer working for mega-corporation Novicorp. When he is caught watching 'Casablanca' at his station (films are forbidden), he is sentenced to a rehabilitative vacation. While his mind is placed inside the body of a baboon, his body is misplaced. As Fingal’s errant mind creates havoc and becomes an ever-greater threat to Novicorp's computer system, computech Apollonia James (Linda Griffiths) is the only one who can prevent the greedy corporation from eliminating Aram.
Though the premise may be confusing, it's not all that complicated on paper. In the future, you’re expected to be a personality-free, dull robot that doesn’t ask questions. If you do, your mind is extracted from your body and placed inside an animal's. You run around a bit then return to your regular, boring life feeling fresh. One day, the process goes wrong and people freak out. You'd never be able to understand any of it out while Overdrawn at the Memory Bank is playing. The film is needlessly bogged down with so much sci-fi jargon and technobabble you can’t make heads or tails of anything. Not helping is the nonsense plot. If Novicorp is powerful enough to control economics and the weather, who are its investors? How can its stock plummet when, in one location, for a couple of hours, a body is misplaced?
Even more puzzling are the characters. When Apollonia helps Aram by creating him a virtual environment, Novicorp's Chairman (played by Donald C, Moore) suddenly decides he must personally enter the virtual reality and assassinate Aram. Won’t the stocks fall even faster when people realize the business is run by a murderer?
The film is appallingly cheap. Aram's vacation? It’s a trip through stock footage, and director Douglas Williams can’t even do that right. Who looked at the two shots of a baboon, one taken during the day, one during the night, and said “These belong one right after the other."? It’d be funny if it weren't so dull.
I’ll give the picture credit for a couple of things, it is funny towards the end. Back in 1983, these special effects might've been impressive. Maybe. Today? they're embarrassing. It makes me wonder. Was Overdrawn at the Memory Bank sold on the "spectacle"? Did audiences look at the ridiculous attempts to create a cyberspace and call it a feast for the eyes, or was it ugly even then?
I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to mention Casablanca. This film loves Casablanca. Every couple of scenes it recreates the sets, characters (though with different actors) or makes references/allusions to the Humphrey Bogart/Ingrid Bergman/Paul Henreid classic. Don’t remind me of another, better movie I’d rather be watching. Just wrap it up and let me get to something more interesting already!
The further Overdrawn at the Memory Bank goes on, the looser its grip on the audience becomes. You’ll be watching in a zombie-like state, waiting for something to jerk you out of your stupor. That much-needed awakening only comes when the film starts vomiting bad CGI effects all over itself. Its nonsensical story drains you like a vampire. I came close to giving it lower than the 1 star I'm settling only, only because of how hard I laughed so hard at the cyberspace stuff that comes during the climax. The best thing about this pile of shorted circuits is that it has the grace NOT to truly spoil anything from Casablanca. (On VHS, October 28, 2016)