Saturday Night at the Movies

I’m unashamedly optimistic when I watch films. I’m so hoping that the ten bucks I would have paid had I seen it at the cinema could not have been spent better at the time. It was lots of fun to have friends round to watch the 89% rated “Galaxy Quest” on a Heath Robinson screen. 

Everybody was laughing – sometimes to the point of near-hysteria, but, poor old moi. I just didn’t get it. But, I didn’t get “Robin Hood, Men in Tights’ either. The movie seemed to need time to develop before going in front of the cameras and the anatomical and consequent digestive improbabilities of the monsters left ragged holes in my concentration. How does a fully articulated alien made from large stones actually eat? It wanted very badly to lampoon the enduring popularity of “Star Trek” – as well as the often apologetically sorry post-Trek careers of most of the series’ stars – and every so often it popped a well-crafted bullseye. More or less. The screenplay seemed to offer safety and blandness over satire and left me with something that was watchable but frustrating since the unexplored potential was so obvious. If  Sigourney Weaver was in your sci-fi comedy, wouldn’t you slip a couple of “Alien” gags in? If screenplay writers Howard and Gordon ever came up with any, they didn’t make it to the final cut, leaving a blonde (ergh) Weaver with little to do except run around in a cleavage-revealing spacesuit. Her comedic skill such as seen in “Ghostbusters” and “Working Girl,” get considerably less exposure than her chest. Nor does “Quest” get much mileage out of Tim Allen. Wake up, people. You’ve got the voice of Buzz Lightyear on board and you can’t even rustle up a little “Toy Story” parody? Alec Baldwin was supposed to get the part – he might have brought a slightly more camp feel to the role.

Nevertheless, a lighthearted, if vacuous way to spend a Saturday night, although the group dynamic was interesting – two couples plus one. The post-movie conversation was stimulating and if the pizza was, like the movie, a little crisp around the edges, the cheesecake was delightful.