comedy
Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium.
Origins
Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
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science fiction film
Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses Speculative fiction, speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as Extraterrestrial life in fiction, extraterrestria ...
directed by
Mike Hodges
Michael Tommy Hodges (29 July 1932 – 17 December 2022) was a British screenwriter, film and television director, playwright and novelist. His films as writer/director include ''Get Carter'' (1971), ''Pulp (1972 film), Pulp'' (1972), ''The Te ...
and written by and starring
Griff Rhys Jones
Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh actor, comedian, writer and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. He and Smith came to national attention in the 1980s for ...
and
Mel Smith
Melvyn Kenneth Smith (3 December 1952 – 19 July 2013) was an English comedian, actor and filmmaker. He worked on the sketch comedy shows ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' and ''Alas Smith and Jones'' with his comedy partner, Griff Rhys Jones. Smi ...
. It also stars
Jimmy Nail
James Michael Aloysius Bradford (born 16 March 1954), known as Jimmy Nail, is an English singer-songwriter, actor, film producer, and television writer. He played the role of Leonard "Oz" Osborne in the television show ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'' ( ...
A small spaceship docks with a refuelling station. On board are four aliens: Bernard, Sandra, Desmond, and Julian. During a particularly tedious period of their stay at the station, the other three begin playing with the ship's controls while Bernard is outside playing spaceball. They accidentally disconnect his part of the ship, leaving him stranded while they crash into a nearby blue planet — Earth.
The three aliens find themselves in the UK and become instant celebrities on arrival, despite being able to bring no great revelation or technical ability to the people of Earth (as is central to the plot of many "aliens on Earth" films). They find a manager (Jones) and become wealthy practically overnight, packing fans in auditoriums who just want to see them.
Meanwhile, Bernard arrives on Earth via other means of transport and finds himself in the US. Despite being by far the most intelligent of the group, Bernard is not afforded any celebrity, and is in fact condemned to vagrancy and a brief stint in a mental hospital before reuniting with his fellow travellers near the end of the film. The others, fearing that the introduction of Bernard would lessen their popularity and celebrity, fail to mention that they had originally been travelling with a fourth.
Cast
* Joanne Pearce as Sandra Brock
*
Jimmy Nail
James Michael Aloysius Bradford (born 16 March 1954), known as Jimmy Nail, is an English singer-songwriter, actor, film producer, and television writer. He played the role of Leonard "Oz" Osborne in the television show ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'' ( ...
as Desmond Brock
* Paul Bown as Julian Tope
* James Sikking as Colonel Raymond Laribee
*
Dinsdale Landen
Dinsdale James Landen (4 September 1932 – 29 December 2003) was an English actor. His television appearances included starring in the shows ''Devenish'' (1977) and ''Pig in the Middle'' (1980). ''The Independent'' named him an "outstanding ac ...
as Commander Grenville Matteson
* Tristram Jellinek as Simpson
*
George Innes
George Innes (born 8 March 1938) is a British actor.
Stage career
George Innes was born in Wapping, Stepney, East London on 8 March 1938, and he began his career on the stage with the Royal National Theatre, National Theatre of Great Britain ...
as Stanley Benson
*
Mel Smith
Melvyn Kenneth Smith (3 December 1952 – 19 July 2013) was an English comedian, actor and filmmaker. He worked on the sketch comedy shows ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' and ''Alas Smith and Jones'' with his comedy partner, Griff Rhys Jones. Smi ...
as Bernard
*
Griff Rhys Jones
Griffith Rhys Jones (born 16 November 1953) is a Welsh actor, comedian, writer and television presenter. He starred in a number of television series with his comedy partner, Mel Smith. He and Smith came to national attention in the 1980s for ...
as Graham Sweetley
*
Mark Lewis Jones
Mark Lewis Jones (born 31 August 1964) is a Welsh actor, whose roles include that of a First Order Captain Moden Canady in '' Star Wars: The Last Jedi'', a police inspector in BBC drama series '' 55 Degrees North'', a whaler in the film '' Mas ...
as Godfrey
*
Leonard Fenton
Leonard Fenton (; 29 April 1926 – 29 January 2022) was an English actor, director and painter, best known for his role as Harold Legg in ''EastEnders''.
Early life
Fenton was born Leonard FinesteinAndre Maranne as Professor Trousseau
* Jimmy Mulville as Motorway Policeman
*
Leslie Grantham
Leslie Michael Grantham (30 April 1947 – 15 June 2018) was an English actor who played "Dirty" Den Watts in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. He was a convicted murderer, having served 10 years for the killing of a West Germany, West German ...
as Motorway Policeman's Assistant
*
Miriam Margolyes
Miriam Margolyes ( ; born 18 May 1941) is a British and Australian actress. Known for her work as a character actor across film, television, and stage, she received the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mrs. Mingott in Marti ...
as Dr. Wallace
Production
The film was announced in November 1983. It was part of the initial slate of four films from Thorn EMI's new chairman,
Verity Lambert
Verity Ann Lambert (27 November 1935 – 22 November 2007) was an English television and film producer.
Lambert began working in television in the 1950s. She began her career as a producer at the BBC by becoming the founding producer of t ...
, the others being '' Slayground'', '' Dreamchild'' and '' Comfort and Joy''. It was written by Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones and directed by Mike Hodges. Lambert offered the film to Mike Hodges, who agreed if EMI would make a script of his, ''Mid-Atlantic'', and signed a two-picture deal.
In December 1984, Thorn EMI offered investors the chance to invest in several films by issuing £36 million worth of shares. The films were ''
A Passage to India
''A Passage to India'' is a 1924 novel by English author E. M. Forster set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. It was selected as one of the 100 great works of 20th-century English liter ...
'' (1984), ''Illegal Aliens'', '' Dreamchild'', '' Wild Geese II'' and '' The Holcroft Covenant''. ''Illegal Aliens'' was later retitled ''Morons from Outer Space''.
The release of the film caused
Mel Brooks
Melvin James Brooks (né Kaminsky; born June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and songwriter. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodie ...
to retitle a film he was working on from ''Planet Moron'' to ''
Spaceballs
''Spaceballs'' is a 1987 American space opera parody film co-written, produced and directed by Mel Brooks. It primarily parodies the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy, but also other popular franchises such as ''Star Trek'', '' Alien'', '' The Wi ...
''.
Reception
Critical
The film has received generally negative reviews, and holds a rating of 4.5 out of 10 on
IMDb
IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
.
The ''Observer'' called the film "so embarrassingly unfunny I often felt like crawling under my seat."
''Empire'' criticized its "loose script whose weaknesses are all the more glaring for the film's inability to exploit the power of absurdity."
Mike Hodges disliked the film, regarding it as a "misfire". He clashed with Smith and Jones in post production, an article claiming "they did not trust, or perhaps understand his comedic judgement or cinematic visual satire and the film became far more broad than he had intended." However, he did enjoy satirising the sentimental "Spielbergian vision of the world".
Box office
The film performed moderately at the box office in the UK and only earned $17,000 in the US.These Movies Flopped at the Box Office; Now You Get to See Them on Videotape
By Michael Cieply. Wall Street Journal, 27 Jan 1986: 1.