Galaxy Quest (1999)

by Rizzy

First of all, I got to start this out by saying that this movie has got to be one of my favorite Sci-Fi Satires of ALL TIME!! No joke. And this is mostly due to the fact that every bit role in this movie (as well as all of the major ones) is played by an INCREDIBLE actor.  I'm serious. Included in this film are Tim Allen as Jason Nesmith, Sigourney Weaver as Gwen DeMarco, Alan Rickman as Alexander Dane, Tony Shalhoub as Fred Kwan, Sam Rockwell (one of my favorite movie stars, who is also in another of my fave Sci-Fi Satires The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) as Guy Fleegman, Daryl Mitchell as Tommy Webber, Enrico Colantoni as Mathesar, Missi Pyle as Laliari, Rainn Wilson as Lahnk, and Justin Long as Brandon... and I might be missing a few.  Seriously, just looking at that casting list, how can you not want to see this film? And if that's not enough, this movie is INCREDIBLY well done, witty AND action packed!!  Why does it get a Bview? Cause it's still CHEESY AS ALL HELL!!

The movie is about a group of actors who were on a Sci-Fi show "Galaxy Quest" years ago, which is a show very similar to our "Star Trek" and so are now making money by making appearances as their characters at nerdfests* like this one. David Howard and Robert Gordon did an amazing job of writing each character to be very defined individuals. Each one is filled with their own insecurities and neurotics and it's wonderful.  I love films like that.

Our crew gets contacted by aliens who have seen the show and think it's real that are in desperate need of help from the evil Sarris. The alien race has recreated their ship lovingly from watching the shows and have decided the only way to defeat Sarris is to enlist the help of the ships real crew to save the day. Having spent the last X years being washed-up has-beens, the crew is more than happy to live the fantasy of their glory days all over again.

All too quickly though their little adventure becomes to mirror the show they once loved and what started as a fun vacation forces them to work through their personal issues and actually become the crew they once played on TV.  Now, this could have been done in a really cheesy, serious way, but they don't play it that way at all. They instead constantly point out that this is like the show and even talk about episodes in order to figure out battle plans. When acting naively about a possible threat, Rockwell even points out to the rest of the crew "Didn't you guys ever watch the show?" as he seemingly panics for no reason to the rest of the crew.  Talk about true gold!! Sam Rockwell is FANTASTIC in this film and does paranoia so well. If I didn't love you all so much, I'd have made this review just quotes of what he said, cause every word out of his mouth is awesome.

In the end, this is a really clever idea with an amazing script to back it and a lot of actors playing well developed characters. I mean, what more can you really ask for in a film? Cheese, you say?  Oh, it's got more than plenty of that as well. God bless a good satire, I love cheese. This movie does go beyond that though, I mean you really get to watch change happen in chracters, which I love.  The individuals grow and learn and reach out past their early stereotypes and you really have to respect a film that's going to be big on laughs and still have it's touching moments in the end. I really hope you rent this one and check it out. It's definitely one of my favorites. A classic in my book.

*I say nerdfests in the most loving of ways.  I love nerds.  I am a nerd. And being somewhat of a nerd is really a prereq for coolness in my mind.  Though, I mean, I am creator of a site that brings praise to B films...so you probably already figured that out.