“Good afternoon freshmen, freshwomen, and people of freshness.”

Justin’s rating: Graduating with a 2.9 GPA

Justin’s review: I thought I had seen all the college comedies from the ’90s, but I guess I missed one, because Senseless came along to beat me… silly?

Marlon Wayans (Scary Movie) is Darryl, a clutzy Stratford student who’s absolutely strapped for cash (he supports his fatherless family). Desperate to land one of five spots for a plumb post-graduate corporate gig, Darryl becomes a guinea pig for a new drug created by Brad Dourif (Alien Resurrection), a university scientist who claims to have come up with a formula that can increase human senses tenfold. For some reason.

The drug actually works and turns Darryl into a superhuman of sorts — and gives him an edge for the corporate job once he’s able to overcome the intensity of the sensations. In actuality, is just an excuse for Marlon Wayans to twitch, excessively mug for the camera, and scratch his butt with a tank scrubber for an entire five-minute scene.

As he navigates this new frontier of enhanced sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, Darryl might get some help from his frenemy Scott (David Spade at his snarkiest) and best friend Tim (Matthew Lillard, wearing all of the piercings in the western hemisphere). I like to think that David Spade’s Rand from PCU left Port Chester and ended up changing his name and transferring to Stratford.

Senseless is a bit of a buddy comedy, a bit of a romcom (Daryll falls for Tamara Taylor’s Janice), and a bit of a college flick. The gimmick of seeing Daryll use his enhanced senses to give him an edge in different situations, and his ongoing adversarial relationship with Scott leads to some fun moments and classic Spade zingers.

The jokes are mainly a lot of slapstick, as you might expect for a film based around the five senses. Later on, Darryl overdoses on the drug and starts temporarily losing various senses at inopportune times, requiring some quick thinking on the spot. That’s where things get interesting, as the missing senses change every few minutes and sometimes even works out to his benefit, such as when Scott gives him a disgusting drink for pledging while Darryl can’t taste a thing.

The overall package is uneven, low on outright laughs, but inoffensively enjoyable. Wayans is more restrained as normal and quite likable in the main role, and both Lillard and Spade do great amounts of comedic heavy lifting as comedy sidekicks. There’s also a pretty decent techno-industrial soundtrack punctuating various scenes, making me think that Angelina Jolie’s about to tomb raid something in the background.

You’re probably never need to see Senseless to feel complete in life, but a single watch isn’t going to cause you irreparable harm. That’s a glowing vial of recommendation right there.

Intermission!

• Wayne’s World director Penelope Spheeris clashed greatly with the Weinsteins over this, saying that she ended up in “director jail” after their edits caused this film to bomb.
• Has there ever been more of a late-90s intro beat than this film’s titles?
• Brad Dourif! I wonder if he’s a vampire yet. Also, his very green rat.
• How much blood can you donate in one day?
• I don’t want to hear Matthew Lillard jingle ever again
• “Lookie lookie, Darryl sees a cookie.”
• “He’s on your team!” “Just following through, coach!”
• Hey, it’s Aliens’ Jenette Goldstein as a nurse!
• Don’t ever pull out someone’s belly button key
• Why does the drug need to be so glowing green that it lights up a room in the dark?
• “Hey Darryl? Why don’t you pull over in the nervous breakdown lane?”
• “Ah, the pincushion kid.”
• “Man, you’re an economics major, ain’t you heard of inflation”
• Patrick Ewing is going to kill him
• Don’t punch yourself in the junk
• Who carries heart-injecting syringes like they’re in Pulp Fiction?
• Cramming for an exam is best done at some sort of punk club
• “What else will go wrong?” [involuntarily pees himself]
• And we go out on a weird Jeffersons reference