Galaxy Quest
***
Rated on a 4-star
scale
Screening venue: Odeon (Liverpool City Centre)
Released in the UK by UIP on April 28, 2000; certificate PG; 102 minutes;
country of origin USA; aspect ratio 2.35:1
Directed by Dean Patriot; produced by Mark
Johnson, Charles Newirth. Written by Robert Gordon, David
Howard. Photographed by Jerry Zielinski; edited by Don
Zimmerman.
CAST.....
Tim Allen..... Jason Nesmith
Sigourney Weaver..... Gwen DeMarco
Alan Rickman..... Alexander Dane
Tony Shalhoub..... Fred Kwan
Sam Rockwell..... Guy Freegman
Daryl Mitchell..... Tommy Webber
Enrico Colantoni..... Mathesar
Robin Sachs..... Sarris
Sometimes when I feel lazy I sit on the couch
and flip through satellite TV channels. One of my discoveries is a station
called Granada Plus. In the daytime it airs a lot of the programmes that
I saw when growing up -- cop shows like "Starsky and Hutch" and "Cagney and
Lacey", as well as science-fiction fare like "The Time Tunnel", "The Incredible
Hulk", "The Six Million Dollar Man", "Lost in Space" and "Star
Trek".
I thought of such delicious pieces of pop culture
while watching "Galaxy Quest". The movie opens at a comic book
convention, where the celebrity guests were performers in a very "Star Trek"-like
TV show called, well, "Galaxy Quest". It was cancelled in the early 1980s,
and now its actors are out of work, spending their time showing up at gigs
to sign autographs. Main star Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen), who bears a suspicious
resemblance to William Shatner, is a goofball who drinks too much and takes
his fans' affections for granted. Blonde bombshell Gwen DeMarco (Sigourney
Weaver) still laments that interviewers only ever asked her about her breasts.
Classically-trained thespian Alexander Dane (Alan Rickman) is known for his
moaning: "I played Hamlet once!" he wails into the mirror.
These guys, along with three other former cast
members, run into some strange-looking fans who talk in robotic voices and
make jittery movements. They make a plea of Jason, which he interprets as
a request for another star appearance. As it turns out, though, this band
of admirers are actually aliens who have seen and admired "Galaxy Quest"
from outer space, believing it to be a set of historical documents. They
want help from their heroes to battle their intergalactic
foes.
After a period of initial shock, Jason excitedly
leaps into this opportunity. "It'll be fun! Just like being on the show!"
His colleagues have to take him aside to remind him that they are not real
space warriors, just actors. Not a problem, it turns out: The friendly aliens'
spaceships have been modelled on those of "Galaxy Quest", and the controls
have been based on the actors' movements.
What I love about this movie is that it replicates
the feel, structure and rhythm of sci-fi adventures with a rejuvenating sense
of lightheartedness. In other words, it's as exciting as those old shows
were from a kid's point of view, and very funny, too. The film has a lot
of self-referential dialogue, but that's nothing new any more -- its general
sense of whimsy is much more enjoyable. And it has a moment I've been waiting
to see for years: Instead of the spaceship pulling out of its tiny loading
bay with perfect ease, the pilot ends up bumping it against the wall, and
having to say "Oops! Sorry!"
The cast is terrific. Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver,
Alan Rickman and Tony Shalhoub are familiar faces, and look so out of their
depth in the middle of all this silliness that of course we find ourselves
smirking. They also create characters we care about. Just because they're
in a comedy doesn't mean they turn into robots who spit out one-liners --
they interact like real people, making everything they have to deal with
just that little bit more absurd, and entertaining.
COPYRIGHT© 2000 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
2000 Reviews
(alphabetical)
2000 Reviews (by star
rating)
Archive of all cinema reviews
(alphabetical)
Review Archive
Index
UK
Critic main page
|
![[Image]](http://www.ukcritic.com/posbanr2.gif)