Subject: Review: Evolution (2001)

From: Robin Clifford <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 05:49:46 -0000

"Evolution" 

What if life on Earth did NOT come out of the primordial ooze hundreds of 
millions of years ago? What if the building blocks of life came from deep 
outer space instead? And, what if the first struggling cells needed only 
days to evolve into full-blown monsters? This is the premise for Ivan 
Reitman's latest goofball comedy starring David Duchovny, Orlando Jones and 
two-time Oscar nominee Julianne Moore in "Evolution." 

Just watching the first promotional bits, over the past couple of months, 
for "Evolution," I was taken by the obvious parallels to Reitman's 1984 
smash hit, "Ghostbusters." What saved that mostly silly movie was a 
performance by Bill Murray that capitalized on the actor's comedic talent 
and sarcastic wit. Unfortunately, "Evolution" does not have Bill Murray, 
nor anyone approaching his one-man-show talent, to bear the burden of a 
mediocre comedy that has its requisite special F/X, but little humor in its 
routine sci-fi tale. 

A mysterious object crashes into the Earth. A team of scientists 
investigates. The object not only turns out to carry living organisms, 
they're hostile to humans and growing in number - fast. It's up to the 
intrepid team of boffins to stop the alien invasion before the Earth is 
lost. This formula has worked well for decades, since "The Thing" (1951) 
and "War of the Worlds" (1954), and screenwriters David Diamond, David 
Weissman and Don Jakoby, dust it off one more time for "Evolution." This 
time, though, the alien invasion is played for laughs. Well, some laughs, 
anyway. 

The problem with "Evolution" stems from trying to force the comedy into the 
original sci-fi drama developed by Don Jakoby. Unlike "Ghostbusters," which 
came from years of comic ghost stories like "The Ghost Breakers" (1940) and 
"Ghost Catchers" (1944), "Evolution" spawned from more serious fare. This 
is a problem as the film tries to force humor into scenes that borrow from 
flicks like "Alien" and "Tremors." The cast does its best to inject comedy 
into the scenes, but it is hard work and forced. 

David Duchovny and Orlando Jones do yeomen's work as a pair of junior 
college professors who see the discovery of the alien object - a meteor 
that seeps slime - as their ticket to the big times. When Ira Kane 
(Duchovny) and Harry Block (Jones) take the sample of ooze back to their 
lab, Ira discovers it contains single-celled organisms from outer space! 
Even more exciting is the fact that they reproduce at a fantastic rate! 

When they take some students on a field trip to the site - an underground 
cavern the rock crashed into - they discover that, in few hours, the 
single-celled creatures had evolved into mushrooms and mitosis-reproducing 
flatworms. Visions of Nobel prizes dance in the scientist's heads. That is, 
until the military, led by Ira's old boss, General Woodman (Ted Levine), 
takes over the operation. Little do they all know that the alien invader is 
developing at a rate where millions of years of evolution takes only hours. 

The flatworms eventually become dinosaur-like creatures and, soon, the 
first primates evolve. As the flora and fauna from another world adapt to 
Earth's atmosphere it becomes apparent that, at their rate of evolution, 
they will completely take over the world in a matter of months. Of course, 
the military blunders big when the general decides to burn the creatures to 
hell - the exact wrong thing to do. It's up to Ira and Harry, with a little 
help from CDC investigator Allison Reed (Julianne Moore) and firefighter 
wannabee Wayne (Seann William Scott), to stop the spread of alien varmints 
and save the world - with Head & Shoulders shampoo, no less. 

As I think about it, this really is a serious sci-fi story (except for the 
shampoo bit). It doesn't lend itself to comedy, which is why, I guess, 
there are so few laughs. Most of the humor is geared to the slapstick, with 
lots of set scenes of human confronting alien - much like "Ghostbusters." 
Duchovny plays it all tongue-in-cheek, with the required poke at his "The 
X-Files" past. Orlando Jones gets some mileage out of his oppressed (but 
not, really) black man. Julianne Moore - what was she thinking when she 
took this role - does numerous pratfalls and klutzy stuff, most of which is 
not funny and almost embarrassing for the twice-nominated Oscar contender. 
Seann William Scott ("Road Trip," "Dude, Where's My Car?") is locked into 
playing the doofus, yet again, adding nothing to the proceeds. Ted Levine 
plays the inept, overbearing general in a cookie cutter perf. 

F/X are adequate but not outstanding. The film seemed murky and audio was 
poor at times, but this may have been the product of the theater projector 
and not the film. 

"Evolution," I'm afraid, is the kind of comedy flick that exemplifies our 
summer movie entertainment. It's a popcorn flick that uses toilet humor, 
anus jokes and lots of slime 
that will entertain the younger audiences. It leaves me craving more 
intelligent fare - like "Shrek." I give it a C. 

For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com 

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X-RT-RatingText: C