11/27/06 Galaxy Quest

Galaxy Quest (1999), directed by Dean Parisot

watched w/ Leslie (partially); VHS (Leslie's copy) @ home; suggested by Leslie & Jason

This is one of those comedies that people have talked about for years, saying that it's pretty funny...but by all trailers I had ever seen, it seemed like something that would be completely dumb and I wouldn't like it. Plus, it has Tim "the Toolman" Allen in it...so there's a strong possibility that it was going to be utter crap. I have to say though, it wasn't half bad. In a crazy case of mistaken identity and alien life forms, a group of washed up sci-fi TV-show stars find they have become something bigger than any of them could have ever imagined. Some eighteen years after their show was canceled from the airwaves, the group is struggling to stay in the public's consciousness by appearing at cheesy sci-fi conventions and store openings. Wallowing in their own despairs and getting on each other's last nerves, the fictional space crew is thrust into a real-life intergalactic war when a group of true space aliens comes to Earth to gather them for a mission. Thinking that the broadcast signals of their original TV-show were actual historical documents of gallant space warriors, the race of Thermians zap the crew onto their space craft where they are to battle the evil General Sarris and his armada. The ensemble cast is a mix-match of the same quirky ensemble crew they portray in the film...Tim Allen as the pompous and hung-over superstar captain, Sigourney Weaver as the never-taken-seriously bombshell, Alan Rickman as the uber-brilliant and over-looked sidekick, Daryl Mitchell as the cool and quippy youngster, and Tony Shalhoub & Sam Rockwell thrown in the mix for laughs. The beauty with the comedy comes in its simplicity at poking fun at its own genre and fans. The sci-fi Trekkies-esque nature of the war caused by a TV-show that was made into a film...never takes itself too seriously, and never hesitates to make fun of well...itself. Eat your heart out sci-fi geeks, maybe some day you really can save the world. Or, maybe you will die a virgin, you never know.

3 out of 5 stars