 Movie
Reviews
with Evelyn Gough.
Evolution (PG)
Directed by Ivan Reitman
Oh David, David ' You left the X-files to make this dross? Why? Did aliens really grab your brain affecting your sense of judgement?
 Ghostbusters meets The Blob plus fart jokes: Ira (David Duchovny), Harry (Orlando Jones) and Wayne (Seann William Scott) in Evolution.
In case you're wondering, the dross I'm talking about is Evolution, a supposed comedy which began its evolution as a seriously scary science fiction film before metamorphising and mutating under the direction of Ghostbusters' Ivan Reitman.
No doubt hoping for a repeat of the success of his 1984 hit, Reitman decided to play it for laughs instead of chills. Bad mistake. Unfortunately, (oh, oh, here we go again....) his idea of hilarity for Evolution involves a mixture of corny slapstick (even more sad when it is the talented Oscar nominee Julianne Moore doing most of the pratfalls) and jokes that are primarily concerned with all things anal. And as this movie is about aliens we get lucky (?) and get to enjoy plenty of extraterrestrial butt jokes, as well as the largest anal sphincter ever filmed. Oh joy!
It's your basic 'meteor-from-outer-space bringing unwanted ETs to the earth' story. There are the usual 'good guys', in this case college scientists Dr Ira Kane (David Duchovny) and Harry Block (Orlando Jones) and the 'bad guys' -the military, led by Kane's ex-boss General Woodman (Ted Levine). And the aliens of course -who lose Brownie points for eating people.
There are two obligatory idiots - who are extremely rotund (just can't beat the big, fat, stupid guy to get a laugh!) and wannabe fireman Wayne Green (a typecast Sean William Scott), plus Julianne Moore (Why? Why? And while I'm at it, why Hannibal?) as the love interest.
No need to reveal too much, but to give you an example of the calibre of the plot by screenwriters David Diamond, David Weissman and Don Jakoby's saving the planet involves a giant enema with a leading brand dandruff shampoo. (Now that's taking product placement to a place you definitely don't want to go!)
Combine Ghostbusters with the Blob, lose the humour and anything remotely frightening, throw in some real low points like David Duchovny flashing his ass (where's that giant enema when you need it?) and you have another movie destined to appeal only to easily amused, flatulence-obsessed 10-year-olds!
Rating: 2 stars.
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