Rating of
1.5/4
Ghostbusters if done by Farrelly Brothers.
Indyfreak - wrote on 04/06/18
Ivan Reitman makes a desperate attempt to catch lightning in a bottle a second time around in this mediocre sci-fi-comedy which is trying very hard to be Ghostbusters, but with aliens. Yeah, Men in Black already beat you to it and it was far funnier.
The alien creatures all look bizarre and appropriately extraterrestrial. The cgi is cartoonishly dated but maybe, given that this is a comedy, that was the idea. It's too bad that after a few cool scenes with some weird monsters, by the end the final 'boss' alien is an unimaginative blob which I kid you not is defeated by a deadly enema.
The human characters all seem game for the goofiness but instead of the naturalistic feel that again, Ghostbusters and to a lesser extent Men in Black had, it comes across as too hammy and mugging for the camera. I'll admit that David Duchovny isn't bad and with a better script, he'd be a more capable leading man. Julianne Moore looks very pretty in this but she's saddled with the odd thankless role of the klutzy geek/love interest. Orlando Jones has some funny one-liners but it's apparent why his career didn't last past 2003.
Going back to the 'death by enema' climax, the movie's biggest flaw is that it's gross instead of just goofy. There's a lot of flatulence humor and bodily hijinks ensuing that wears the viewer down.
The logo wit h the 3 eyed Alien smiley face seems like the one thing they spent time thinking about. It's an amusing picture and I wish it was used for a better more entertaining film.
