GALAXY QUEST (DreamWorks) Starring: Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Daryl Mitchell, Sam Rockwell, Enrico Colantoni, Robin Sachs. Screenplay: David Howard and Robert Gordon. Producer: Mark Johnson. Director: Dean Parisot. MPAA Rating: PG (profanity, violence) Running Time: 102 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
I can say without reservation that GALAXY QUEST boasts the best mainstream "high concept" of 1999. I started chuckling the moment I heard about a film in which the cast members of a beloved television science-fiction series -- a decade removed from any career except appearing at conventions and ribbon-cuttings -- were mistaken by an alien race for real fighters for interplanetary justice. I saw it as a wonderful opportunity both to needle the phenomenon of "Star Trek" fandom and to embrace its fundamental optimism. If handled properly, it could be a fun and funny adventure into the way our popular entertainments can help define our world, and define the performers who create them.
I was so engaged by the concept of GALAXY QUEST that, even as the film was unfolding, I kept cutting it slack. I nodded in amusement at the personalities of the show's "crew": Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen), bombastic prima donna who portrayed Capt. Peter Quincy Taggart; Gwen DeMarco (Sigourney Weaver), still bitter that her Lt. Tawny Madison was viewed as a pair of breasts that repeated what the computer said; Alexander Dane (Alan Rickman), a Shakespearean-trained thespian who dreads every time he has to don the prosthetic headpiece of the alien Dr. Lazarus. I smiled at the idea of a troubled alien race, the Thermians, so captivated by the positive message of the "historical documents" they intercept that they model their entire society after the world of "Galaxy Quest." And I was ready to ride along as the has-beens get a chance to be real heroes, helping the Thermians battle for freedom from the domination of the would-be dictator Sarris (Robin Sachs).
GALAXY QUEST turned out to be a pleasant diversion. It's also something of a missed opportunity (or, more specifically, a series of missed opportunities). Screenwriters David Howard and Robert Gordon drop in plenty of goodies for those in the "Star Trek" know, yet they're often more content to rely on insider gags than to flesh those gags out. The characters are broadly sketched, with their various crises and need for respect providing a vague foundation for the story (Tony Shalhoub is far more vividly goofy as the "chief engineer" too oblivious to realize his situation is genuinely dangerous). A story with the potential to focus on how the actors come to terms with their legacy ultimately becomes just another comic adventure, less about the people than about the premise.
Oh, but that premise does make for some entertaining viewing. Most of the best jokes showcase an internal logic that should be the envy of every science-fiction film: Because the Thermians designed the real ship after the television ship, it follows all of the show's rules. Wonderful moments find Nesmith and DeMarco navigating a series of crushing obstacles that serve no logical purpose ("I'm going to kill whoever wrote that episode," quips DeMarco), and the ship's former child star helmsman (Daryl Mitchell) scraping the "Protector" out of space dock. Though the humor does tend towards the "insider," at least it's insider in a generally clever way, finding amusement even in the captain's tendency to lose his shirt during every fight scene.
GALAXY QUEST is far too lively and good-natured to deserve harsh criticism; in a season full of prestige-hungry Oscar wannabes, it's nice to see a film interested primarily in putting a smile on your face. The smiles, unfortunately, don't turn into full-fledged laughs often enough. The situations beg to have the absurdity level turned up just a notch; the characters beg to be given more personality. "High concept" is most often used by critics as a derogatory term, but that didn't have to be the case for GALAXY QUEST. Though it may send you out of the theater chuckling, it could have taken its concept even higher.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 Trek lites: 6.
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