`ASPEN EXTREME' GOES ADRIFT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 23, 1993                   TAG: 9301230218
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
`ASPEN EXTREME' GOES ADRIFT
"Aspen Extreme" is a bad, sloppy movie.
It begins as a generic little ski picture, but then falls apart completely toward the middle. Remarkably, this mess is being released through Disney's Touchstone organization. It's a new low for a group that usually delivers acceptable midlevel entertainment.
T.J. (Paul Gross) and his underachieving friend Dexter (Peter Berg) are two guys from Detroit who decide to seek fame and fortune in Aspen. In no time flat, they land jobs as ski instructors. T.J., far and away the prettiest person in the movie, then becomes a boytoy for a wealthy local (Finola Hughes), but his heart really belongs to Robin (Teri Polo), a blonde deejay who's almost as cute as he is.
Will T.J. become an irresponsible ski bum, or will he settle down in Aspen with Robin? Will he win the big race, or will it go to the evil German ski instructor?
Yes, those have been the basics of a number of recent ski movies, but the others had a sense of cheesy fun. Writer-director Patrick Hasburgh seems to have been laboring under the illusion that he was making a serious film. Wrong! He was just making a long, boring film with some curious mistakes.
About an hour into the story, winter turns into spring for a few shots, then we're back in the snow. Within the context of the film, it's never clear whether a full year or a long weekend has passed.
After that lapse, the action becomes increasingly sentimental and unrealistic until it reaches a mawkish conclusion that is the crowning insult to audiences everywhere.
As for the skiing scenes, they're competent but nothing new - the same old slow-motion, dazzling white powder and bright blue sky that fans have seen hundreds of times before.

Aspen Extreme: *
A Touchstone release playing at the Valley View Mall 6. 115 min. Rated PG-13 for brief nudity, some rough language.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB