The clever parody concerns the fictional television crew of a Star Trek-like spaceship called, "The Protector". The characters include the arrogant screen-hogging captain, the resident self-loathing alien, the ample breasted female yeoman, the hapless engineer, and the obligatory talking computer. The difference and strength of Galaxy Quest is that it does not make its characters into buffoons, ridiculously earnest about their personas. Instead, the movie concerns itself with how tired and dissolusioned the actors are with their characters. After being revered as 1970's TV icons, the crew of the Protector are relegated to empty and redundant appearances at sci-fi conventions or promotions.
Only when a band of "real" aliens called Thermians suddenly show up and enlist the crew's aid do the actors truly come alive. These aliens, convinced the fictional show is a historical document, are convinced that the crew can save their people from destruction.
Much of the hilarity of the film comes when the fictional crew is forced into real life-death situations that call on them to actually "use" their instruments and weapons for the first time. Gradually, through adversity, the crew learns to embrace their former fictional characters and even aspire to their ideals. In one of the films more moving sequences, the Vulcanesque crewman, played by Alan Rickman, reluctantly voices his dreaded catch phrase to inspire a dieing friend. Galaxy Quest is also an unusual film because it does not insult sci-fi fans. Recently, in a Saturday Night Live Skit, actor William Shatner browbeat a Star Trek Convention audience by telling them to "get a life". Galaxy quest embraces its fans. In one scene the captain even enlists the aid of some pre-pubescent Galaxy Quest fans to help save the universe from a batch of ultra-ugly aliens.
I highly recommend Galaxy Quest because it does not obsess on the cheap or tacky faults of early sci-fi television. Rather the film lightheartedly shows the power of science fiction to truly inspire others to be better people.
The standouts of the cast are Tony Shaloub as the "mellow" engineer, Tim Allen as the pompous captain, Alan Rickman as the tortured Shakespearean actor/alien, and Enrico Colantoni as the sweet and naïve Thermian. Sigourney Weaver is the one weak link in the cast. Frankly, Weaver's screen presence is too self assured and intelligent to play the resident bimbo of the cast. But, how rare for a Sci-Fi film to err on the side of intelligence!
The harebrained plot concerns a contractor, played by Robert Duchovny, who just lost his wife in a car accident. Suddenly, Duchovny finds himself in love with a local waitress; Minnie Driver who-unbeknownst to him- has received his wife's heart in a heart transplant operation. The cheesiness of this plot is almost too much to bear. We are lead to believe that Driver, because she has his wife's heart (the conventional symbol of love), Duchovny has no choice but to fall in love with Driver. I wonder what would have happened if Driver had acquired his wife's liver…Would that mean Driver was destined to become Duchovny's best drinking buddy?
Another preposterous premise of the film is that Minnie's father and friends, played by Carrol O'Conner and Robert Loggia, try to shanghai every available man and marry them off to Minnie. The poor woman just underwent open-heart surgery! Why would they want to put any unnecessary stress on her? I am surprised they didn't enter Minnie in a marathon or sign her up to appear on the American Gladiators television show.
Besides the idiotic plot, Return To Me is also unrelentingly manipulative. The audience is supposed to believe that Duchovny and Driver are perfect for each other. However, the filmmakers stack the deck so much in their favor that their union seems preordained and unfulfilling. The writers make all other suitors either obnoxious or moronic. Duchovny dates a woman who we are supposed to find obnoxious because she likes a certain type of bottled water. This is ridiculous. Since when is obnoxiousness equated with discriminating tastes in bottled water? In our brand label obsessed culture, it is rare to find anyone who does not have decided preferences in what they drink.
We are also demanded to despise Driver's date because he has hair extensions and keeps asking Minnie to test their durability by tugging them. True, there might be reasons to hate this man if anyone like him actually existed in the real world. But this character is a total fiction. Anyone who ever went to the trouble of getting hair extensions would never, in a million years, broadcast that fact to their date. It would be like someone with a nose job asking their dates how their nostrils looked.
For a supposed romantic comedy, this film is curiously morose and unfunny. The taciturn and pensive Robert Duchovny cannot master the suitable facial expressions necessary to convey love. The able supporting cast, Carrol O'Conner and Robert Loggia, are wasted. Their sole motivations seem to consist of perpetrating Italian and Irish stereotypes. They drink, play cards, and argue exhaustingly argue over who is the best singer: Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, or Bobby Vinton.
Only Minnie Driver seems comfortable in her role as a plucky waitress. She has the true passion and "heart" in this film. To bad her heart is only a loaner.