‘Twister’s’ Characters and Story Gone With the Wind

Moviegoers are not strangers to special-effects-laden “thrill ride” spectacles lacking in other areas like story and character development. Unbelievably, the movie “Twister” has reached a new low for the summer blockbuster genre. With a script of exhausted cliches barely cobbled together and a cynically packaged assembly of grating characters, “Twister” is offensive “movie product” at its worst.

The amazing tornado effects are so deflated by every other aspect of the movie that instead of achieving the drama of even a roller coaster, the movie feels like the spinning teacups--whipping you around for a while until you exit feeling nauseous. My guess is screenwriters Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin entered the word “tornado” into some scriptwriting software and took the rest of the day off. I like summer popcorn movies, but “Twister” is a yawning disgrace.

DAVID BECKMAN

Sherman Oaks