Vibes has all the elements to be funny. Instead, in the buttered hands of Kwapis, it has the lightness of a lead balloon. A lot of the character-building humour between Cyndi Lauper and Jeff Goldblum is shrill and hysterically unfunny – although to be fair the dialogue and banter sometimes has a quite bouncy amiability. The effects and production values are really amazingly tatty for the budget involved, not to mention the usually sterling reputation of the Boss Co and Richard (Ghostbusters, 2010) Edlund. The last quarter where the film emerges into a special effects vehicle centered around a generic device of all-important, world-threatening power, is really rather flaccid and dull.

The only life the film has is a joyful performance from 1980s pop bimbo queen Cyndi Lauper, making her screen debut. She demonstrates an amazing range of screwed-up, face-mincing expressions and smart-ass cynicisms, all delivered in baby-doll voice. Many will not find her their cup of tea, but can hardly deny she adds what small life there is to the film. Jeff Goldblum gives another of the wet-eared schmuck roles and only really takes a backseat to Lauper. The film itself was a box-office flop and Kwapis subsequently disappeared into tv land.