Computer Guru Son, Organizer Daughter, and I went to see this movie last night, and I can now say with some authority that, although I’ve never read the book, both book and movie are:
A. seriously odd,
B. full of Darwinian nonsense,
C. full of lots of other nonsense,
D. NOT a source for the true meaning of life, the universe, and everything, and
E. really funny.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (originally a radio series) was written as a parody of 1960’s/70’s sci-fi, and as such it works admirably. Adams also considered himself “an evangelical atheist,” and as such he’s funny, but unconvincing. Try these quotations on for size:
“He hoped and prayed that there wasn’t an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn’t an afterlife.”
‘Now it is such a bizarrely improbably coincidence that anything so mindbogglingly useful [the Babel fish] could have evolved by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.
The argument goes something like this: “I refuse to prove that I exist,” says God, “for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.”
“But,” says Man, “the Babel fish is a dead giveaway isn’t it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don’t. QED.”
“Oh dear,” says God, “I hadn’t thought of that,” and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.”
He’s jollied you right out of all that God stuff, right? Don’t panic! You can watch the movie with discerning detachment and laugh and have a good time and still believe in God when it’s all over.
I did.
Our little family headed out and saw it last week. We had been given a free pass for 4. We loved it.
A lot of subtle humour and the whole thing relied a lot more on its quirkiness rather than millions of dollars of special effects.
As you say, the premise of a lot of the movie is monumentally flawed, but like most comedy, it’s not meant to be taken too seriously.
Really funny? I completely disagree. It was painful, the subtle humor was hardly subtle (or way too subtle for my feeble mind, I don’t care which) and the only funny part happened when the dolphins were singing.
The two-headed guy was awful. The Alan Rickman-voiced robot wasn’t sad enough to be funny. The aliens probably started out funny on the drawing board, but just didn’t translate onto the big screen.
And it was British humor. That stuff is gawd-awful.
Chris Elam, whoever you are, don’t contradict my mom. If she said it’s funny, it’s funny!!!