''Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same'' is an American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

2011 comedy film written and directed by Madeleine Olnek. It parodies

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

culture and

low-budget A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced o ...

American 1950s science-fiction films in the style of

Ed Wood Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker, actor, and pulp novelist. In the 1950s, Wood directed several B movie, low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult c ...

Plot

Three lesbian space aliens come to Earth, and one of the aliens, Zoinx, falls in love with an employee at a greeting card store named Jane. Jane shyly returns Zoinx's affection and they begin a romance, though Jane does not know that Zoinx is a space alien. In the meantime, Jane, Zoinx, and Zoinx's friends do not know that they may be in trouble: there are two government agents—

men in black In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are government agents dressed in dark suits, who question, interrogate, harass, and threaten unidentified flying object (UFO) witnesses to keep them silent about what they have ...

—monitoring Jane as she starts to become closer to a woman who the men feel does not belong on this planet.

Cast

Production

The film is an adaptation of a play Madeleine Olnek originally wrote and directed for New York's WOW Café theater in 1992, which was also produced in San Francisco in 1999.

Reception and Reviews

The film premiered at the

2011 Sundance Film Festival The 27th annual Sundance Film Festival took place from January 20, 2011 until January 30, 2011 in Park City, Utah, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ogden, Utah, and Sundance, Utah. The festival opened with five screenings, one from each ...

. , the film holds a 93% approval rating on

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, based on 14 reviews with an average rating of 6.2 out of 10. It was nominated in the category of Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You at the 2011 Gotham Independent Film Awards. The film received an enthusiastic critical response, indieWIRE wrote, “the hilarious black-and-white sci-fi romantic comedy “Codependent…” charmed the pants off critics and audiences at the Sundance Film Festival where it world premiered. The film's since gone on to slay at a slew of festivals” Variety concurred saying, “Sweet, funny, clever comedy...Olnek’s sensibility is singular, and the work of the cast-- notably the sweetfaced Haas and the hilariously robotic Ziegler-- make for a movie that seeks, and earns, affection.” During the film's theatrical run, The New York Times emphasized the universality of the comedy. “Clever…witty...this enormously likable movie keeps sexual politics on the back burner and the universal search for connection front and center...Ed Wood would be proud.” And the LA Times said, “'Codependent...' is silly, cheesy and surprisingly enjoyable. As goofy and singular as its look-twice title..." The Hollywood Reporter also opined on the universality of the film, calling it, “A hilarious date movie for couples of all orientations.” And the popular radio program/NPR affiliate, KPCC Film Week, enthused, “Really, really sweet and funny…hysterical…I watched it twice.” The film won a special award at OutFest in Los Angeles. It was named by Autostraddle as one of the "Top 14 Heterophobic Movies of all Time."

References

External links