Subject: Review: What Planet Are You From? (2000)

From: "Rose 'Bams' Cooper" <[email-masked]>
Date: 17 Mar 2000 03:33:02 GMT

'3 Black Chicks Review...'

What Planet Are You From? (2000) 
Rated R; running time 100 minutes
Genre: Comedy
IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0181151 
Official site: http://www.sony.com/whatplanet/  
Written by: Michael Leeson (based on a story by Garry Shandling)
Directed by: Michael Leeson
Starring: Garry Shandling, Annette Benning, John Goodman, Greg Kinnear, 
Ben Kingsley, Linda Fiorentino, Anne Cusack, Camryn Manheim, Nora Dunn, 
Caroline Aaron, Richard Jenkins, Samantha Smith, Janeane Garofalo

Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000
Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/bamsplanet.html

When I realized last week that my travelling to New Orleans for Mardi 
Gras would mean that I'd miss the opening weekend for What Planet Are 
You From (hereby known as WPAYF), I breathed a sign of relief.  Unlike 
the hoards who thought Garry Shandling's HBO and FOX TV shows were 
funny, I avoided them like nobody's business; I couldn't get past his 
looking too much like a giant weasel.  And the premise behind WPAYF just 
screamed to me, "Girl, don't go see this goofy sh...tuff".  Still, I had 
a few extra hours on my hands Sunday; and besides, I reasoned with 
myself, if you ignore Shandling, it's got a very talented supporting 
cast in Annette Benning, John Goodman, Ben Kingsley, and Linda 
Fiorentino.  What could go wrong?

Then I remembered "Random Mess" and "Stupornova" - and crossed my 
fingers...

The Story (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**):
WPAYF takes the "Men Are From Mars" concept to another level: Harold 
Anderson (Gary Shandling) is a brother from another planet - a planet of 
men with no penis [shudder].  It should come as no surprise, then, that 
these dickless men wish to conquer another planet - and which planet 
would that be?  Three guesses; and the first two are wrong.

After putting his planet's men through semi-intensive training on the 
ways of Earth women, hoping that they'd be Easy, fearless leader Graydon 
(Ben Kingsley) picks Harold as their man.  His mission: grab his 
attachable penis, get an Earth Girl knocked up, and something or another 
mumble mumble about the new superbaby...oh yeah, it will become Supreme! 
Ruler! Of! Earth!

A few things get in the way first, though; mainly, his lame lines fail 
to impress many women - including a Flight Attendant (Samantha Smith) he 
met on the way to Earth - that is, until he meets Susan Hart (Annette 
Benning), who he figures just might be The One.  Finding a job at a bank 
while he's waiting for the child thingy to resolve itself, he also has 
to deal with his slimy sycophant co-work Perry Gordon (Greg Kinnear), 
their boss Don Fisk (Richard Jenkins), and FAA inspector Roland Jones 
(John Goodman), who is committed to proving to his bosses that Harold is 
from somewhere way the hell out there.

The Upshot:
As did "The Whole Nine Yards", WPAYF started out slow(ly) and picked up 
steam as it went along, with some very funny scenes along the way.  What 
really worked about it for me is the sense of fun the characters and 
actors seemed to have with each other, from Susan kickin' it with her 
girlfriends Liz (Anne Cusack), Alison (Camryn Manheim), and Madeline 
(Nora Dunn) to the comic interplay between Shanning and the surprisingly 
funny Benning - and especially Goodman, one of the funniest Big Men in 
Hollywood - the laughs were easily drawn out of me, even I as sat there 
determined not to laugh at this movie.  That lasted for about 15 minutes 
- right up to the point where Mr. Happy starting humming.  After that, I 
was done for.

The feel of this comedy is very "Raising Arizona"-ish; stretching the 
see-through lines men often troll on women - and the 
hook-line-and-sinker way women often respond to them - to a comic 
extreme, you quickly see, through Harold's eyes, just how silly the 
Battle Between The Sexes really is.  But even after the Obligatory 
Alien-Develops-Human-Feelings bit, the "yes, dear" relationship, in all 
its familiarity, seems somehow comforting; at least it did for this old 
married chick.

I do, however, take slight issue with what I see as two casting flaws, 
one of character choices, the other, miscast actors.  The character most 
out-of-place here was Helen Gordon, played to her smoky best by Linda 
Fiorentino; though Ms. F. did no real wrong in her role, her character 
seemed to be an unnecessary distraction, an appendage to "prove" how Bad 
Perry was (not that he needed the help).  Still, she delivered one of 
the best lines of the movie (and since it was featured in its 
commercials, I'm not giving away anything here): when Harold tells her 
that the humming sound she heard was coming from his penis, she says, "I 
guess it doesn't know the words".  Rollin', I tell ya; absolutely 
rollin'.

The second, more problematic, casting flaw involves Janeane Garofalo; as 
was done in Dogma, she was included here in a glorified cameo as a 
nervous airline passenger used as a target for more of Harold's Intro To 
Earth bit.  WPAYF's Powers That Be would've done far better to cast her 
as Roland's wife Nadine, and her part minor played instead by Caroline 
Aaron (the actor who actually played Nadine Jones).  Nothing against 
Aaron, but I had no idea why she was trippin' so tight over Roland just 
doin' his thang; but you can bet your bippy that if Garafolo had gotten 
her hooks into Nadine, comedic sparks would've flown between her and 
Goodman.

There's nothing - nothing, I say! - at all Deep about WPAYF; it 
certainly won't be up for anyone's "Best Of" lists at the end of the 
year, to say the least.  But in a year (so far) where damn near every 
movie seems to be striving for inclusion on "Worst Of", you could do 
much worse than to spend 100 minutes of your time with a few good 
bellylaughs and a chuckle or three.

Bammer's Bottom Line:
Yeah, I know: I'm as shocked as you probably are to see me give WPAYF a 
greenlight (especially since I only gave its soulmate, last year's 
Galaxy Quest, a conditional yellow).  Hey, every Chick can be wrong 
once, eh?

"What Planet Are You From?" (rating: greenlight): 
Even if Garry Shandling does look like a giant weasel.

3 Black Chicks...Movie Reviews With Flava!            /~\
Rose "Bams" Cooper                                   /','\
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