The greatest movie ever made..!

Overrated

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Barney Springboro (Scott Baio) is a real high school science nerd. His best friend Peyton Nichols (Willie Aames) just wants to party. Coach Dexter Jones accidentally adds to Barney's formula. Bernadette is the pushy class nerd who wants to interview Barney. The mixture explodes giving him telekinetic powers. Jane Mitchell (Heather Thomas) is the entitled cheerleader going out with a college guy. Both Bernadette and Peyton find out about Barney's powers. Bernadette wants to publish while Peyton uses his powers to win a baseball game.It's a functional sex romp of a pretty low caliber. It was a lot better seeing this as a boy. This is the usual raunchy teen movie with nude boobs. The idea of a guy with telekinetic powers is a lot better than the execution here. The highlight is Heather Thomas. Scott Baio has a bit of charisma but he doesn't seem to be fully committed to being a nerd. A good pair of thick glasses would help and he needs to button up his shirt. It's like he's too cool to play the part.

Playful little telekinesis comedy about a brainy high school science wiz who gains the power to move objects with his mind(..break glass, open/shut doors, hurl bullies in the air, cause baseballs to go wherever he so wishes in order to win the big game, etc.)after an experiment goes awry. Mad scientist formula moved into a sunny high school setting, with "dreamy heartthrob" Baio cast as the "nerd" Barney with overbearing parents who are concerned about his well being(..his mother, played over-the-top by Mews Small, always pointing her finger, barking orders, and insisting his dad take firm steps at getting to the bottom of things). Felice Schachter(The Facts of Life)is made up to look like a geek love interest for Barney..I always find it amusing in these 80's films where they take obviously attractive people like Baio and Schachter, attempting to costume them in "dork dress". As the film continues, we see that they are far from what one would associates a nerd to be.Anyway, Payton(..played by that charming, handsome devil, Willie Aimes of "Eight is Enough' & "Charles in Charge" fame, who seems to be having the time of his life as a popular chick magnet)wishes to exploit his buddy's telekinesis in an unfair duel with a college hunk named Robert(Greg Bradford) over the high school prom queen(..and head cheerleader), Jane Mitchell(the ridiculously hot Heather Thomas, whose "breast scenes" are obviously a double). Meanwhile Barney and Bernadette(Schachter)begin courting as she, along with Payton, are the only two who know of his powers. A problem develops(..it's deceptively a minor deal to add a bit of conflict in the thin plot)as Bernadette wishes for Barney to stop helping Payton use his power as a gambling tool. He'll have to choose between Payton and Bernadette..well, kind of, the film doesn't really ever plan to split apart anyone, this is rather evident.I kind of figured this would be more or less an effects movie, with plenty of wires used to make objects levitate and, through the use of careful editing and moving the film backwards, showing water and puke move in perfect streams towards Barney's desired destination. The ending spoofs "Carrie" where Barney uses his powers to get back at the students laughing at him when he gets boinked over the noggin with a watermelon meant for his pal, Payton. I vaguely remember "Zapped!" as a kid because my mentally retarded uncle watched it a lot(..as he did other films like The Return of Josey Whales and Reform School Girls!). I figured it'd be raunchy, but besides the grand finale at the prom, there's not a whole lot of nudity(..sure Barney pops the tops of girls who annoy him, but they occur sparingly and not on screen for long). There is plenty of naughty bits since Aames is quite the ladies' man(..we see that he even gets in on with the Principal's secretary, and that his photographic profession has benefited him substantially!)and a funny little ordeal between Principal Walter J Coolidge(haha!)and a schoolteacher..played by Robert Mandan and Sue Ane Langdon. Scatman Crothers steals his scenes as a terrible baseball coach who sneaks a shot of Jack inside Barney's science lab(..Barney uses the whiskey in an experiment with mice)..it's hard to not embrace a film when you have a hallucinatory sequence where Scat rides bicycles with Albert Einstein after being engulfed in a giant cloud of smoke, from an incinerator burning away marijuana(..Barney and Payton were growing a stash behind some orchids grown specifically for the Principal), while his wife(..played by Sanford and Son's LaWanda Page, haha)dressed up as a Viking marching towards them in her chariot with four black stallions, blasting forbidden salami "bullets" at him! For juvenile tastes like mine, "Zapped!" goes down rather easy, others might beware unless you enjoy this kind of zany stuff. Riotous finale has clothes stripping off of students as a wind gust blows over tables and decorations with girls and boys running for their lives as the dresses and pants rip away from their bodies.

I first became a movie freak at University in the U.K. where a local Art House theatre introduced me to many European and Hollywood classics from the silent film era and the inter-war period. Subsequently work and marriage took their toll on many leisure activities, including movie going, and I had very little ongoing involvement with films until the early 1980's when pay TV, including the First Choice movie channel, was introduced to Canada by the Allard brothers of Edmonton. Unfortunately this service closed down after a number of years, but I owe it a big debt as the programs re-kindled my love for film as an art medium. Yesterdays' newspaper reported that Allarco Entertainment have been granted a CRTC licence to resume pay TV services as from next year. This was great news for me. First Choice used to provide us with an eclectic selection of movies including many classics that I had missed whilst occupied in building my career, some major recent releases, a large number of popular but puerile family comedies, documentaries and various special presentations. There were also many Hollywood B films which appeared to have been selected primarily because they were available very inexpensively and helped fill up the schedule. The viewing notes mailed to subscribers naturally made all these sound equally significant and rewarding viewing, so new subscribers needed a crash course in sorting the gold from the dross and I learned a lot about Hollywood quite quickly by recording many films I could not watch (on beta tapes) and sampling them later when opportunity arose. More recently, after I retired, I selected the best of these tapes and transcribed them onto VCD's to view on my DVD player; but I still have a number of them, some never viewed, in an old box. The news about Allarco encouraged me to dig out this box to see what was still in it, and the first tape I found was "Zapped" which was once shown on First Choice as a new release. I remembered watching it, and so I looked up the user comments on it in IMDb. When available, First Choice often used to show two versions of films of this type, a regular one for daytime presentation and a slightly more raunchy one (usually featuring a small amount of nudity but sometimes employing what many people would regard as unacceptable language) for late night showing. I cannot remember whether this was the case with "Zapped", but I do remember thinking when I watched it that the film appeared to have been designed to accommodate multiple versions intended for different markets. Barney's telekinetic powers could equally easily lead to his girlfriend losing her handbag or her blouse, and the distinction would not make much difference to the story. Some user comments suggest that the commercial version of this film may include much more nudity than I remember in the version I saw on First Choice. This is quite likely as unduly risqué sequences were sometimes minimised to reduce the likelihood of public complaints - public standards have changed a lot in what is only one generation! I remember "Zapped" as an enjoyable light comedy of the feel good variety which was totally devoid of any serious content. But I also remember that Barney, played by Scott Baio, showed admirable character in controlling the use of his fantastic powers and resisting any temptation to use them for illegal, immoral or really anti-social activities. This is a competently made sci-fi comedy to watch and enjoy when you have nothing better to do - but probably only if you are still young enough to enjoy it. However the interaction between the principal characters clicked better here than in most similar films, so I will probably try to get my beta recorder working again - although of course ONLY to see how my tape has survived 24 years of storage.

Scott Baio was hot in "Happy Days" playing Chachi, but when he played Barney in "Zapped", Chachi doesn't stand a chance against him. Being endowed with telekinetic powers, he was unstoppable. Just disrobing every girl in school was completely hilarious. I liked it when he made the popular girl flash, the boyfriend asked her "What are you, some kind of pervert?" And when he made two girls lose their shirts and the guys their shorts, that was a howl as well.The prom scene will the one Barney will never forget. The boyfriend was a complete wimp when she lost her dress and fainted when he saw her bottom. And all the other girls lost their dresses as well when Barney's power goes way out of hand. This movie was good, but it could use a little more work. I liked it a lot, I don't care what the critics say about it.5 out of 102 out of 5 stars.