December 28, 1992 -- The latest Mel Gibson vehicle ``Forever Young'' is not one of his better films, but it is enjoyable.

For some reason this film reminds me of a film that came out in 1990 called ``Always.'' Instead of Richard Dreyfuss, it has Mel Gibson and instead of his sidekick John Goodman it is George Wendt (a regular on ``Cheers''). Gibson's sweetheart is injured in an auto accident and lies in a coma. His response? Gibson volunteers for an Army medical experiment in which he is frozen in a device invented by Wendt.

Wendt dies while Gibson is frozen and somehow the Army misplaces Gibson and the device in a warehouse. Somehow, without any power source, the device maintains Gibson in suspended animation at a temperature of zero for 50 years. He is accidentally awakened by two kids playing in the warehouse. He finds the kid's house and rescues their mother, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, from an abusive boyfriend. He then seeks to find his old friends and pick up the pieces of his life.

As can be seen from the plot summary, the plot has huge holes in it, but if you are willing to suspend your disbelief, a major task, the film works on an emotional level. The relationship between Gibson and Curtis and the two kids works well. Gibson is likable and does a good job of portraying the clash of 1939 and 1992 values. There is some suspense at the end of the film when Gibson is fighting side-effects of suspended animation and he is being chased by, who else, the government bad guys.

At the end there are too many loose ends to have everything tied up neatly, but the emotional payoff is there and it works well enough to provide some positive entertainment value. The film rates a C+.

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