Review: 'The Two Coreys': Lost Boys, still

By April MacIntyre Aug 1, 2007, 16:12 GMT

07/27/2007 - Corey Feldman - Corey Haim - A&E Presents The Premiere of the Two Coreys - Hollywood, CA © Chris Hatcher / PR Photos

A&E has re-teamed the chemistry of actors Corey Haim and Corey Feldman, who had a nice run about 20 years ago in films such as "Stand By Me" (Feldman) and together in the stylishly shot 1987 Joel Schumacher tribute to Jason Patric's stunning beauty in "The Lost Boys" that also paid homage to Kiefer Sutherland's feral hotness, too.

Am I the only one who got a homoerotic whiff off that movie?

The two became friends on that set, and over the years they appeared in many films and television projects separately.

The two Coreys wound up in six more films together including "License to Drive" and but when they both battled different addiction problems, their careers suffered the fallout from the erratic behavior.

A&E has fashioned a docu-series that combines scripted and ad-libbed moments in "The Two Coreys."

In a tip to "The Odd Couple", the theme music even opens the series, the two play the classic premise to the hilt with a classic Los Angeles-styled surgically enhanced "hot housewife," Mrs. Susie Feldman in the mix who must suffer the husband's buddy, whose repeated toss-away line is "death...by Feldman." 

The show opened abruptly with Haim being the boorish "Dupree" to Feldman's genial hosting, and it becomes immediately apparent that the years have been very kind to Feldman, but not so much to Haim, who has an air of manic unease and disjointed thought processes that he verbalizes non-stop. 

A good portion of the show is Feldman talking Haim off of a ledge over any setback or bad news.

No surprises that hot wife Susie and high-strung Haim clash at times. She has patience and dutifully acquiesces to her Corey, biting her tongue so hard I was shocked we didn't see blood in the corners of her mouth.

Feldman has had the Frank Sinatra effect happen. He has become better looking with age and his large features have been balanced by a filled-out face.  He is quite handsome, and has a Zen vibe that makes him the more appealing Corey.  His voice is has a nice timbre too. 

Haim seems lost, boy.  He never grew up, and now that middle-age is bearing down on him, his spastic "dude where's my car" schtick seems embarrassing.  You can see by his eyes alone he has a lot of growth still left to accomplish, and he still needs to conquer residual demons.

In one scene where the casting of the Lost Boys 2 news was delivered by Feldman to an unaware Haim, sees him breaking down and crying over the latest set back.  For me, it was a cringing moment of excessive melodrama, despite the fact I have no doubt it was his genuine reaction to the news.

My feeling is this show was pitched over a fevered bull session when parties involved realized the golden moment of a 20th anniversary loomed for a classic eighties film. Time to remind people that they were still around.

The "Lost Boys" was fun, but it wasn't the "Godfather," and time plays funny tricks with people trying to capture an elusive magic Genie to stuff back in the bottle. 

I hope they get some work from this reality/scripted effort, especially the talented Feldman.

The Two Coreys premiered July 29 at 10/9c on A&E