'3 Black Chicks Review...'
What Planet Are You From? (2000) Rated R; running time 100 minutes Genre: Comedy IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0181151 Official site: http://www.sony.com/whatplanet/ Written by: Michael Leeson (based on a story by Garry Shandling) Directed by: Michael Leeson Starring: Garry Shandling, Annette Benning, John Goodman, Greg Kinnear, Ben Kingsley, Linda Fiorentino, Anne Cusack, Camryn Manheim, Nora Dunn, Caroline Aaron, Richard Jenkins, Samantha Smith, Janeane Garofalo
Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/bamsplanet.html
When I realized last week that my travelling to New Orleans for Mardi Gras would mean that I'd miss the opening weekend for What Planet Are You From (hereby known as WPAYF), I breathed a sign of relief. Unlike the hoards who thought Garry Shandling's HBO and FOX TV shows were funny, I avoided them like nobody's business; I couldn't get past his looking too much like a giant weasel. And the premise behind WPAYF just screamed to me, "Girl, don't go see this goofy sh...tuff". Still, I had a few extra hours on my hands Sunday; and besides, I reasoned with myself, if you ignore Shandling, it's got a very talented supporting cast in Annette Benning, John Goodman, Ben Kingsley, and Linda Fiorentino. What could go wrong?
Then I remembered "Random Mess" and "Stupornova" - and crossed my fingers...
The Story (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**): WPAYF takes the "Men Are From Mars" concept to another level: Harold Anderson (Gary Shandling) is a brother from another planet - a planet of men with no penis [shudder]. It should come as no surprise, then, that these dickless men wish to conquer another planet - and which planet would that be? Three guesses; and the first two are wrong.
After putting his planet's men through semi-intensive training on the ways of Earth women, hoping that they'd be Easy, fearless leader Graydon (Ben Kingsley) picks Harold as their man. His mission: grab his attachable penis, get an Earth Girl knocked up, and something or another mumble mumble about the new superbaby...oh yeah, it will become Supreme! Ruler! Of! Earth!
A few things get in the way first, though; mainly, his lame lines fail to impress many women - including a Flight Attendant (Samantha Smith) he met on the way to Earth - that is, until he meets Susan Hart (Annette Benning), who he figures just might be The One. Finding a job at a bank while he's waiting for the child thingy to resolve itself, he also has to deal with his slimy sycophant co-work Perry Gordon (Greg Kinnear), their boss Don Fisk (Richard Jenkins), and FAA inspector Roland Jones (John Goodman), who is committed to proving to his bosses that Harold is from somewhere way the hell out there.
The Upshot: As did "The Whole Nine Yards", WPAYF started out slow(ly) and picked up steam as it went along, with some very funny scenes along the way. What really worked about it for me is the sense of fun the characters and actors seemed to have with each other, from Susan kickin' it with her girlfriends Liz (Anne Cusack), Alison (Camryn Manheim), and Madeline (Nora Dunn) to the comic interplay between Shanning and the surprisingly funny Benning - and especially Goodman, one of the funniest Big Men in Hollywood - the laughs were easily drawn out of me, even I as sat there determined not to laugh at this movie. That lasted for about 15 minutes - right up to the point where Mr. Happy starting humming. After that, I was done for.
The feel of this comedy is very "Raising Arizona"-ish; stretching the see-through lines men often troll on women - and the hook-line-and-sinker way women often respond to them - to a comic extreme, you quickly see, through Harold's eyes, just how silly the Battle Between The Sexes really is. But even after the Obligatory Alien-Develops-Human-Feelings bit, the "yes, dear" relationship, in all its familiarity, seems somehow comforting; at least it did for this old married chick.
I do, however, take slight issue with what I see as two casting flaws, one of character choices, the other, miscast actors. The character most out-of-place here was Helen Gordon, played to her smoky best by Linda Fiorentino; though Ms. F. did no real wrong in her role, her character seemed to be an unnecessary distraction, an appendage to "prove" how Bad Perry was (not that he needed the help). Still, she delivered one of the best lines of the movie (and since it was featured in its commercials, I'm not giving away anything here): when Harold tells her that the humming sound she heard was coming from his penis, she says, "I guess it doesn't know the words". Rollin', I tell ya; absolutely rollin'.
The second, more problematic, casting flaw involves Janeane Garofalo; as was done in Dogma, she was included here in a glorified cameo as a nervous airline passenger used as a target for more of Harold's Intro To Earth bit. WPAYF's Powers That Be would've done far better to cast her as Roland's wife Nadine, and her part minor played instead by Caroline Aaron (the actor who actually played Nadine Jones). Nothing against Aaron, but I had no idea why she was trippin' so tight over Roland just doin' his thang; but you can bet your bippy that if Garafolo had gotten her hooks into Nadine, comedic sparks would've flown between her and Goodman.
There's nothing - nothing, I say! - at all Deep about WPAYF; it certainly won't be up for anyone's "Best Of" lists at the end of the year, to say the least. But in a year (so far) where damn near every movie seems to be striving for inclusion on "Worst Of", you could do much worse than to spend 100 minutes of your time with a few good bellylaughs and a chuckle or three.
Bammer's Bottom Line: Yeah, I know: I'm as shocked as you probably are to see me give WPAYF a greenlight (especially since I only gave its soulmate, last year's Galaxy Quest, a conditional yellow). Hey, every Chick can be wrong once, eh?
"What Planet Are You From?" (rating: greenlight): Even if Garry Shandling does look like a giant weasel.
3 Black Chicks...Movie Reviews With Flava! /~\ Rose "Bams" Cooper /','\ 3BlackChicks Enterprises /','`'\ Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 /',',','/`, EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com ICQ: 7760005 `~-._'c / http://www.3blackchicks.com/ `\ ( http://www.dealpilot.com/?partner=1987 /====\
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