Evolution

I remembering liking this years ago. It was a likable box office flop and David Duchovny's attempt at becoming a movie star. If it had hit he undoubtedly would have been one, and Sean William Scott and Orlando Jones would have had bigger careers too.

It sort of puzzled me why it never caught on. It got a short-lived tie-in cartoon when the studio thought it was going to wind up a bigger deal than it wound up being. But I look at the sleeper success of Galaxy Quest, and how it's gotten a cult following over the years due to home video, and I'm wondering why that didn't happen here.

I think because Galaxy Quest is still pretty much as iconic and classic now as it was when it first came out. This movie simply doesn't hold up. It was good for the time it was released, but later stuff like Stranger Things puts it to absolute shame.

Dan Aykroyd's presence tells me the movie was made when Comedy Titan Ghostbusters' director Ivan Reitman saw Men In Black (an admittedly underwhelming film) and wanted to prove he could do better. The thing is, the film ISN'T better than Men In Black. I think the cartoon actually fixed what both Men In Black and Ghostbusters had going for them (and this movie doesn't). Men In Black had a super cool, badass, clandestine organization fighting the bad guys. Ghostbusters had a grunge, punk, underground organization doing the same. These are just a few random civilians teachers and scientists who've stolen a firetruck filled with shampoo. A large part of the appeal of the heroes is just missing because they ain't wearing snazzy suits or cool uniforms.

But truthfully even if the movie doesn't hold up, I maintain it should have at least been a success at the time. Ian saying to Harry that he knows the government and you can't trust it is a perfect comedy in-joke. Sadly, the movie spends more times on innuendo and scatological humor instead of jokes like that. But still, I get the sense even if it isn't a great movie NOW, it probably should have been considered one THEN.

I'll give it a respectable 3 and a half stars knowing that if it were made today I'd be far more disappointed and critical. ***1/2.