Overall Rating
 Awesome: 6.56%
Worth A Look: 40.16%
Average: 23.77%
Pretty Bad: 12.3%
Total Crap: 17.21%
8 reviews, 74 user ratings
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| Evolution |
by Collin Souter
"A comedy that can't walk erect."
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“Evolution” feels like a movie ready to take off at any moment, but feels content to just stay at the starting line. It has the energy, it has the right actors, even the right director. It has the right take on the story. We know because we’ve seen the story before. It has the good sense to not take itself too seriously. It basically has the right elements for a good fun summer comedy. So, what happened? Why didn’t I laugh that much? Perhaps the director, Ivan Reitman, thought this would be one of those comedies where improv from the actors would compensate for the somewhat dry material. It didn’t happen.It has happened before where a script comes in, it looks like a good vehicle for the right comedic actors and nobody touches it because, well, the directors figure ‘a lot of the humor will happen as we film.’ The filmmakers think they’ll catch lightning in a bottle. Strange, this time around since two of the main actors, David Duchuvny and Julianne Moore, come from drama. Both look like they had a good time making this movie acting alongside Orlando Jones (best known for his “Make 7 Up Yours” commercials) and Seann William Scott, from “American Pie” and “Road Trip.” All four actors seem like they should be working together on something that has its wit pre-written.
The exposition seems like a frame-for-frame remake of Reitman’s masterpiece “Ghostbusters,” where a character going about his business suddenly has the bejeezus scared out of him by an unknown life form. Cut to the school where the heroes apply their scientific trade learning about the encounter and setting out, as amateurs, to investigate it.
Actually, I could just say “Ghostbusters” meets “Men In Black” and you really wouldn’t need a synopses. You tell me. If I tell you that a meteorite lands in Arizona in front of fireman-wannabe Wayne (Seann William Scott) and Dr. Ira Krane (Duchuvny) and Harry Block (Jones), professors at a community college in Arizona, go out to investigate it, would you need more? (Well, no, especially since I said that in the previous paragraph). Alright, how about if they discover an ooze leaking from the meteor and discover it multiplying and evolving at a rapid rate? Still need more?
Okay, how about if a General (Ted Levine) and a lovely epidemiologist named Allison (Moore) try to keep the situation under wraps? How about if Krane falls in love with Allison? And then Krane and Block enlist the help Wayne and two junior college flunkies to fight the growing alien life-forms without military approval? What if they save the day, but not without having a scene of the cast dancing to “Play That Funky Music, White Boy” in a jeep?
You get the idea. “Evolution” had such a great trailer and a funky poster, it left audiences, myself included, a bit baffled, but in a good way. It seemed to have a lot going for it, even though no one could tell what it would really be about, except it had something to do with aliens. And Julianne Morre signing on to do it had to be a good sign, right?
I’ve been wanting to see Julianne Moore do a comedy for quite some time. Her cameo in “Ladies Man” didn’t do much for me but wonder, ‘What was she thinking?’ Reitman has a way of luring serious actresses into his featherweight comedies. But unlike Sigourney Weaver and Emma Thompson (“Junior”), she doesn’t act as the straight person. Instead, she trips over stair steps and bumps into glass doors. Suddenly, the movie turns into “Ally McBeal.” Reitman, of all people, should know better.
Duchuvny seems to want to get as far away from his “X-Files” persona as possible. Here, as in “Return To Me,” he shows signs of life. He does smile, he does laugh, he does show excitement and, yes, he does look like he had a good time. Actually, Duchuvny had some great comedic moments on “X-Files” and he seems like a natural for this kind of part. But, again, he hasn’t been given much to work with. Since when did mooning someone become funny again?Orlando Jones shows great promise. His pitch-perfect reaction to Wayne singing in the shopping mall microphone (don’t ask) made me laugh the most. Actually, his fate at the end—the ass end, that is—had me laughing as well. Oh, yeah, and the part where the alien gets under his skin and only a rectal probing will get it out. That all made me laugh, but I can’t remember much else. Again, I should stress that these three actors (I eliminated Scott, because he hasn’t really shown himself to be much of an actor yet) really should be working on something together with a director who feels like taking chances. Please, Reitman, evolve already.
 del.icio.us 
link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=4710&reviewer=233
originally posted: 06/21/01 23:19:51
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USA
08-Jun-2001 (PG-13)
UK
N/A
Australia
12-Jul-2001 (M)
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