Helen Hunt Filmography Part 8: Twister

Pseudo science and natural disaster thrills…

Helen Hunt’s big film break is an all around good time.

Twister (1996) jettisoned me on my current Helen Hunt movie watching trajectory. I’ve seen it three times since December because while it is probably not the “best” Helen Hunt movie, it may be the most fun. 

This is Helen Hunt’s real big film break, and the science is nonsensical, the macguffin is the macguffiniest, and the outcome is completely predictable. And I love it. 

Cow!

I also can tell you the one, slight alteration that could have made it pretty much perfect. 

We follow Dr. Jo Harding (Hunt) and her team of techs, analysts, and roadies/DJs (what is Philip Seymour Hoffman’s job?) on their quest to track tornadoes. Their goal is ultimately to feed a bunch of sensors into the belly of the beast in order to develop a more advanced warning system. 

During the movie the same thing repeatedly happens: they find a twister, chase the twister, get nearly blown away by the twister, think that’s awesome, and fail to get the sensors into the twister. 

The twisters increase in intensity and size with each encounter because there is a storm system of unprecedented size and ferocity bearing down on Oklahoma (also known as climate change induced weather). 

After watching her father get swept up into a Class 5 tornado, Jo dedicated her life to creating the advanced warning system, apparently to the neglect of other parts of her life including her marriage to Bill (Bill Paxton)...dun dun DUH. There it is. Bill shows up at the outset of this bad storm system with his new fiance in tow to get Jo to sign the divorce papers. 

You know where this is going. I know where this is going. We both know Jo and Bill are not going to finalize that divorce. We know that poor Melissa (Jami Gertz) is going to end up going home sans Bill. Everyone knows this. 

This is why to make this movie amazing, they should have eliminated the fiance character entirely. It makes everyone look bad, especially Bill for dumping this lovely woman, but also Jo for putting up with his fickle nonsense. 

Everything that is gained by Melissa’s presence could be accomplished differently, and would actually improve the movie. Allow me to demonstrate. 

Better without Melissa.

The scene where Jo and Bill talk about Melissa in the truck establishes their history and hints at the cause of their separation. This scene still works if you remove Melissa and change the subject from Bill’s new fiance to his new job.

If Jo low-key gives Bill a hard time for quitting on tornado tracking and his sensor invention (that Jo had to finish) in order to be a weatherman, we still get the character development from the scene. The fissures in their relationship, Bill’s sensitivity about his new job, and their unhelpful coping skills are still set-up without Melissa. 

I would like to know what these people do.

One distinct shortcoming of this movie, and most movies with a team of supporting characters, is that the supporting characters are ill defined. Jo has eight people on her tornado tracking team…I think. I could not name them or tell you what they do.

I know the one guy does the maps/navigation. The others are vaguely scientific, and I have no clue what Dusty (Hoffman) does except be vaguely stoned, rock out, and say “the suck zone” to maximum comedic effect. 

More team building scenes, please.

This could be fixed by eliminating Melissa and spending her screen time on the actual tornado chasing team. It would narrow in the focus on the team and allow for more individual character development. The movie could explore the group dynamic better and establish actual personalities for these characters. 

Melissa does provide the perspective of an outsider on the insane, adrenaline junkie ethos of tornado hunters. This is a useful counterpoint and adds some comic moments. However, there is a new member on the tracking team, Laurence (Jeremy Davies), who serves the exact same purpose. 

Without Melissa his outsider/new guy perspective would be stronger, and we could see how everyone on the team responds to a new person who doesn’t quite yet fit in. What tension does this cause? What humor does he bring to regretting his career choices? These questions don’t get explored thoroughly because there is too much focus on Melissa’s response to tornado chasing. 

If we want Jo and Bill to end up together in the end, which we do, we also need more scenes for them to reestablish their connection. This is hard to do with Melissa around without making both of them complete assholes, and the movie largely neglects it. 

If Melissa is not in the picture, we can get an almost love scene while they’re having lunch at Jo’s Aunt Meg’s house. If you want to be cliche, it can even be an awkward coming out of the shower moment. This would build romantic tension and set up the end game. 

This confrontation needs a reconciliation before the ending.

Then at the drive-in/motel we can continue the romantic build up after Bill and Jo have had their emotional confrontation in the middle of the last tornado. They can continue their conversation, make meaningful relational progress, and have an actual love scene.

When the tornado tears through the drive in, the movie could play this for either comedy or thrills as going from naked and post-coital to frantically dressing and running to a storm shelter could go either way. 

This should be earned, not just inevitable.

See, easy-peasy. A few quick changes and I made this really good, super fun movie into a great movie that’s even more fun and has a better emotional through-line. Too bad I can only watch this version in my head. 

If someone wants to hire me as a story consultant, I’m here all day.