"That's a nice-a donut."
Thursday, December 08, 2005
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
After years of unsuccessful attempts, novelist Douglas Adams' science fiction classic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was finally adapted for the big screen. The popular book - part of a series, that I'm sure studio was hoping to turn into a film franchise - crosses multiple genres, from space action to romance, mystery adventure, and plenty of comedy. Combine this with a decent sized budget, and the Guide was destined to become one of the biggest and best hits of the year, right? Well, not exactly. It doesn't help that the director (Garth Jennings) is an unknown with little experience, or that the cast (which has plenty of recognizable faces) seems miscast and out of place. And it certainly doesn't help that the general plot and story is a rambling mess, which most likely will only be interesting to fans of the book.
Good 'ol Brit Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) is just an average man trying to find his place in the world. He's unlucky with the ladies - just the other week he blew it with a promising young woman - and it seems like things can't get any worse, when one morning he finds his house about to be bulldozed to make way for a bypass. They do get worse though, as he soon learns that his good friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) is actually an alien and that the bypass being built is actually an interstellar bypass. Next thing the pair know, they find planet Earth destroyed and manage to escape and stowaway on a spaceship. The ship, coincidentally, has several strange passengers including Trillian (Zooey Deschanel) - the woman that Arthur struck out with - and a very egotistical and annoying man named Zahod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell). There is also Marvin, a little tag-along robot-like companion that eerily resembles a dwarf-like Stormtrooper with a humongous head, and plenty of other strange things as the travelers embark on a zany adventure that changes their lives.
The style and tone of the movie reminded me of films like The Gods Must Be Crazy. It is quite good when it shows flashes of wicked, irreverent humor, like the idea that humans are just the third-most intelligent species on Earth (second being the dolphin). Or some jokes about having tea, or nice set pieces like a super-advanced encyclopedia. There is even plenty of self-referential humor.
But as exciting as it sounds on paper, this is a dull plot filled with meaningless drivel and too many absurdities and oddities for its own good. Of course some of the many jokes and gags manage to stick, but most fall flat. With an inane plot about finding the meaning of life, each scene could almost have been edited together in a random order, and it wouldn't have made much difference on the overall quality of the film - nor would it have been much less. Unfortunately, the movie manages the feat of creating virtually zero empathy or passion for a single character. I suppose if you are fond of the book, then you may be able to appreciate the humor more. As such, the movie is completely unable to stand on its own terms.
The Verdict: C-.
Michael Bentley 8:54 AM
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