What Planet Are You From? (2000) Rating: 4.0 stars out of 5.0 stars
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Cast: Garry Shandling, Annette Bening, Greg Kinnear, Ben Kingsley, Linda Fiorentino, John Goodman, Judy Greer, Nora Dunn, Camryn Manheim, Ann Cusack Written by: Garry Shandling, Michael Leeson, Ed Solomon and Peter Tolan Directed by: Mike Nichols Running Time: 104 minutes
Garry Shandling makes his long overdue starring film debut as an alien from a planet populated only by genetically created men, who are looking to take over the Earth by propagating their own species there. Shandling is chosen for the mission, is given the name Harold Anderson, and is set up as a banker in Seattle. After a few disastrous "mating" attempts, he figures his best bet will be Susan (Annette Bening), a former alcoholic who eventually tells Harold that she won't have sex again until she gets married. The leader of Harold's planet (Ben Kingsley) tells him to marry her, and Harold is soon exposed to all the "joys" of married life.
Despite its title and premise which seem to imply that this is some Jerry Lewis vehicle from the late 1960s, What Planet Are You From? is a very funny movie. The plot (which the film wisely doesn't linger on the specifics of for too long) is of course nothing more than framework for the jokes, most of which work very well. The material may be considered crude and tasteless by many, and I might have thought so as well had Shandling not been the lead. But he brings a sort of pathetic charm to the role, and it's his performance that makes the film truly funny instead of just offensive.
Plus if you think about it, What Planet Are You From? could have VERY easily gone the gross-out route (considering that Shandling's character is given a detachable penis that vibrates and hums when he gets excited). We never SEE anything though, it's all implied, which gives the film a touch of class amidst its crudeness. I'm glad to see that someone in Hollywood still understands the concept of "less is more".
The talented supporting cast certainly adds to one's enjoyment of this film. Annette Bening (oddly playing a merged version of her real estate salesman character from American Beauty and her ditzy spiritualist character from Mars Attacks!) does a fine job keeping up with Shandling and makes a good catalyst for his brand of humor. She even manages to pull off a potentially disastrous scene where she has to perform a rather goofy rendition of "High Hopes" for a lengthy period of time.
Ben Kingsley, John Goodman and Greg Kinnear all fare well in their performances as well, and Linda Fiorentino... good lord, there should be some sort of law stating that no woman can be THAT sexy. Everything about her character in this film oozes raw sexuality.
What Planet Are You From? is available on DVD from Columbia TriStar Home Video. The disc gives you the choice of either watching the film full frame or in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 (and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Also included on the disc as extras: a decent making-of featurette, an isolated score track, talent files for the cast and crew, and the film's original theatrical trailer (as well as trailers for Wolf, Men In Black, Bugsy and As Good As It Gets).
When I first saw that the disc featured an isolated score track, I actually laughed. How great could the music for a silly little comedy be for it to get it's own isolated track? Well as it turns out, it's a mighty fine score from Carter Burwell (Fargo, The Hudsucker Proxy) that I enjoyed listening to again while I typed up this review. Kudos to Columbia TriStar for adding that feature to the disc.
What Planet Are Your From? was unjustly ignored in theaters, and I hope it finds its deserved audience on home video. This fine DVD is certainly a great way to see it. [R]
Reviewed by Chuck Dowling - chuckd21@fdn.com AOL Instant Messenger: FilmJax The Jacksonville Film Journal - http://www.jaxfilmjournal.com/
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