YMMV / Encino Man

• Base-Breaking Character: Stoney, given he's played by Pauly Shore. Some find his Totally Radical appearance and lingo obnoxious, but others are more open to it considering he's meant to be a California teen in the early 90s.
• Cult Classic: A goofy little film but viewed very fondly by 90s kids, especially fans of Pauly Shore and Brendan Fraser, and even gets some respect for its surprisingly progressive views of masculinity.
• Fridge Logic:
  • Why was there a block of ice in the ground in California where it is warm most of the time? A block of ice that has to be frozen for millennia in California?
    • The science teacher at the beginning of the film explains this one. He says that scientists still believe that underground glaciers exist in the area where the film is located. Presumably, the earthquake at the start of the film brought Link's block of ice closer to the surface.
  • Dave didn't understand why Link didn't hit Matt back. Stoney tells him it's because, like all cavemen, Link fought for food and survival, not for popularity. Though they may have also fought for tribal leadership.
    • Also, even if they did fight for leadership, Link knew he wasn't a part of this strange "tribe," so challenging the alpha male would be pointless.
  • Who washed and dressed Link's mate at the end? It's doubtful Link would approve of Dave and Stoney giving her the same treatment they did to him.
• He Really Can Act: Many are surprised that Pauly Shore could pull some emotional scenes off but he can. Look at when he comforts Link when the latter finds out what happened to his family and when he and Dave fight when Dave tries to get Link to leave.
• Iron Woobie: Link adapts to his alien surroundings fairly well. Even after finding out everyone he knew from his past is long dead, he manages to come to terms with it and embraces Dave and Stoney as his new tribe.
• Jerkass Woobie: Dave may be shallow, but getting bullied and publicly humiliated by Matt just for talking to his girlfriend (when said girlfriend had already turned him down) makes him somewhat sympathetic.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The shot of Matt Wilson randomly appearing on screen, shaking his head towards Dave, became a YTMND fad for a while.
  • "Wheeze the juice!"
• Sequelitis: Encino Woman is a television movie made in 1996 that doesn't feature any of the stars from the first movie. It got horrible ratings and has been forgotten by most fans of the first movie.
• Special Effects Failure: The block of "ice" that Dave and Stoney find Link frozen in looks an awful lot like plastic.
• Tear Jerker: When Link goes to the museum and learns what happened to his people.
  • Dave and Stoney's fight when Dave tries to send Link off on his own. It's the one scene in the movie where Pauley Shore gets real.
  Dave: You went along for the ride, and you let me do the dirty work, because you thought it might work out to your advantage!
  Stoney: Those are the desperate words of a loser. Maybe Matt Wilson was right about you all along.
  Dave: ...Take that back.
  Stoney: No, I'm not gonna take it back!
  Dave: (tackles him) TAKE IT BACK, STONEY!
• Values Resonance:
  • The line between toxic masculinity and positive masculinity is clear as day. Matt is a petty status seeker who picks on people he knows he can overpower and punches Link despite Link doing nothing to him. Dave to an extent also has this issue, as he's obsessed with superficial things like house parties and hot girlfriends and is willing to manipulate his friends to get them. Link on the other hand had grown up during the Ice Age, but he uses the strength he gained from it to provide for his "tribe", picks his battles and even though Robyn is interested in him, he doesn't take advantage of her as he can sense that this would cause a conflict with his friend Dave. Similarly, Stoney is almost always shown to be in the right for having no interest in things like popularity or getting girls.
  • Platonic male-on-male affection is also depicted without the slightest bit of irony. When Dave and Stoney make up after their fight, they share not an impersonal "bro hug" but a tight, loving embrace for several seconds while both look to be on the verge of tears. In an earlier scene, one of the Latin thugs is slapped by his girlfriend and immediately falls, crying, in the waiting arms of one of the other thugs, who gives his friend a sympathetic hug (the image is played as a joke, but not the emotion). Inversely, the closest the movie ever comes to anything remotely resembling homophobia is the explicitly villainous Matt passively calling Dave a fag while beating him up (even Stoney falling asleep on Dave after the dig up Link is depicted as more annoying than disgusting). For a doofy 90s comedy, that's exceptionally progressive.

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