When I saw that Mike Nichols was making another picture, I was automatically interested. After making motion pictures like The Graduate and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, he had slipped severely, making only a couple decent films since. So, naively, I went to What Planet Are You From to find out if he could stem the tide of failures.
And, triumphantly, I left the motion picture with an answer: no, no, no.
If What Planet Are You From? succeeds at anything (and that's a big IF), it does succeed at having a surprisingly talented cast and crew, for what otherwise represents a made for USA motion picture. Starring Garry Shandling, Annette Bening, Greg Kinnear, and Ben Kingsley, I expected something decent, at least from the last three. But, they all disappointed me.
The story of What Planet Are You From is a one-gag premise: Garry Shandling plays an alien who has been sent to earth to impregnate a woman, thereby allowing his alien race to reproduce and slowly take over Earth. That ends up being the entire story. Never any twists, never anything clever that the beginning of the film indicated.
The film opens with thousands of the aliens being taught what human women are like, providing the only legitimate laugh of the entire film. Then, Shandling is sent to earth, bumbles around, meeting the sleazy Greg Kinnear, who takes him to AA meetings to meet women. He meets Annette Bening, who seems to be phoning in her performance as a recovering alcoholic/real estate agent. She insists on marrying before having sex, and so the alien marries her. All through this point, every time the alien had tried to reproduce, his mechanical genitals made a whirring noise. Apparently, this passed for humor, because Nichols depended on this noise for about 30 minutes of the film.
Then, they marry, they try to have children, are frustrated, and eventually she gives birth. Then, the baby is kidnaped by Kingsley (the leader of Shandling's planet), and the alien returns to steal it back, setting up a trite ending and giving the audience a merciful stay of execution.
The film is a massive disappointment from everyone involved, and I give it 1/2 out of 5 stars.
And, triumphantly, I left the motion picture with an answer: no, no, no.
If What Planet Are You From? succeeds at anything (and that's a big IF), it does succeed at having a surprisingly talented cast and crew, for what otherwise represents a made for USA motion picture. Starring Garry Shandling, Annette Bening, Greg Kinnear, and Ben Kingsley, I expected something decent, at least from the last three. But, they all disappointed me.
The story of What Planet Are You From is a one-gag premise: Garry Shandling plays an alien who has been sent to earth to impregnate a woman, thereby allowing his alien race to reproduce and slowly take over Earth. That ends up being the entire story. Never any twists, never anything clever that the beginning of the film indicated.
The film opens with thousands of the aliens being taught what human women are like, providing the only legitimate laugh of the entire film. Then, Shandling is sent to earth, bumbles around, meeting the sleazy Greg Kinnear, who takes him to AA meetings to meet women. He meets Annette Bening, who seems to be phoning in her performance as a recovering alcoholic/real estate agent. She insists on marrying before having sex, and so the alien marries her. All through this point, every time the alien had tried to reproduce, his mechanical genitals made a whirring noise. Apparently, this passed for humor, because Nichols depended on this noise for about 30 minutes of the film.
Then, they marry, they try to have children, are frustrated, and eventually she gives birth. Then, the baby is kidnaped by Kingsley (the leader of Shandling's planet), and the alien returns to steal it back, setting up a trite ending and giving the audience a merciful stay of execution.
The film is a massive disappointment from everyone involved, and I give it 1/2 out of 5 stars.