Galaxy Quest

(from the 1999 Holiday Movie Roundup)

This is as pitch-perfect as movie as ever you will see. "Galaxy Quest" chooses a task and executes it exceptionally well, using its perfect casting, its witty script, its cool special effects, and its sprightly direction. Of course, nothing is perfect, since what "Galaxy Quest" has accomplished is nothing more than a parody of "Star Trek" and the fan madness surrounding it. But I'll be damned if this isn't one hell of a parody, probably the best parody I've seen in a movie theater of anything. Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and Alan Rickman are exceptionally perfect, as opposed to the other cast members, who are merely perfect. Allen sinks his teeth into his Shatneresque role, wisely not going overboard with Shatner's much-parodied agogic line-reading hesitations but capturing the essence of Shatner's enthusiasm and adventuring spirit. Sigourney Weaver, in a change from her normal sci-fi milieu of struggling with slime-drenched aliens who wish to impregnate her, plays a Marina Sirtis-like character whose main role on the original TV show was to have big breasts that spill out of her uniform. She is a little displeased by this role, and eventually gets to extend herself. And Alan Rickman's bitterness and bile-spewing at his being forced, Patrick Stewart-like, to go from playing Richard the Third to a Klingon-like physician is so black with choked, resigned rage that it verges on overwhelming everything and not being comic anymore. Fortunately, he keeps it under control. The special effects are neat, the movie moves along, the characters are real people and they are consistent, the tone is basically genial, and you come out of the theater a lot happier than you went into it. Go see this one, even if you don't like Trek. But if you know anything at all about Trek (like friend Michael Sapoznikow, who noted that a large part of the film parodies one specific Trek episode I've never seen), you're doing yourself a grave disservice if you don't see this film at its very next showtime. Just drive out there right now. Or, even better, take the bus or walk. Yeah, that's right. Get up. Hey, you're not up yet! You're still reading this! Stop reading and go see the movie! I mean it! Now! Do it! You can read about "All About My Mother" and "Any Given Sunday" when you get back.

Attractive Man Count: 1 (cause I feel a need to reward Tim Allen for pumping himself up so nicely).

Attractive Woman Count: 1.

Overall Grade: A+ (yes, that's the second one ever, and none of the movies I reviewed for the paper would have gotten one).

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