3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly good, May 13, 2006
This review is from: Martians Go Home [Region 2] (DVD)
Judging by the cover, Martians Go Home should be about as pathetic a comedy as Joe Dirt. Yet surprisingly, though flawed, it works quite well. It's actually based on an interesting premise - what if alien invaders weren't savage or warlike, but just irritating to the point of distraction?
Although the martians themselves are quite deplorable (just picture an annoying and unfunny comedy troupe who don't realise that they should just quit) the human characters are really quite engaging. Randy Quaid is perfect as the beleageured hero, a man who is driven up the wall by the martians from the very start. His reactions, especially his facial expressions, are hilarious, especially when irritated. This particularly comes out in his interactions with the burglar character and when the martian voyeurs interrupt him and his girlfriend. His voiceovers are great too, particularly when he is describing some of the TV shows he writes theme songs for (e.g., the show about the cop who has to chase villains using public transport because he lost his driver's license).
Dr Jane, the Psychiatrist, is also a wonderful character. Her consistently calm, therapeutic (read tranquilising) way of speaking is particularly funny at the start where she is counselling people on a radio show. There's a wonderful scene where she winds up counselling an insane man who plans to go on a killing spree because his neighbours don't like him, and they wind up discussing lawn mowing techniques.
There's also a burglar that goes from being a minor character to being one of the leads in a surprising turnaround fairly early in the show. He comes across as a sweet dweeb who doesn't know any better. He also has some really good lines: e.g., Dr Jane: You really aren't as dumb as you look. Burglar: (earnestly) Yeah, I really am. Or where Randy's girlfriend says to him, "You really look like that cop I saw the other night" and the Burglar replies, "I have a brother who's with the police. Right now."
Also, watch out for a young Rob Schneider as a martian voyeur. I didn't even know he was around back then. Jeez, he's come a long way.
Ultimately, the show suffers from its centrepiece - the Martians. Yes, they're meant to be annoying, but at least they could have been annoying in an audience friendly way. For example, in What About Bob?, Bill Murray's character is majorly annoying, but only to the other characters, not to the audience. The Martians in this film are so unfunny that you'll find them tedious after the first few seconds. My suggestion is to tune out to them early and wait for the human characters to do their thing. If you can do that, you should have a good time.
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