The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy

THE HITCHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
dir. by Garth Jennings

I read the entire "Hitchiker's" series about ten years ago; I haven't read any of them since. So, to be honest, what was missing and what was added in the film adaptation I'm not really up on. I mean, I remembered quite a few things from the first book with some of the scenes that were presented, but overall I went into this movie with really no expectations whatsoever. But here's a little personal thing from me on adaptations before I get into what I actually thought of this film.

Adapting a novel or play or whatever is not an easy thing to do. In fact, the only thing I've ever had produced was a stage play I was commissioned to write in college based on David Niven's historical fiction novel, "1812." Which, I might add, is a terrible book. But I was getting paid, so I did my best; I can only imagine that adapting a good novel is a lot more fun, but also a lot more challenging because you have to please the millions of fans that have already devoured everything associated with the source material. My feeling is this; books and movies are two completely different mediums, and the people asscoiated with the film have no obligations whatsoever to the fans of the original material; I hope it is there intention to make a good movie, but everything is relative here. So, I could see a lot of people going into this thing, and I'm not making this reference to Chris (I know he stands on about the same ground as I do with this subject), and coming out annoyed because that one sentence wasn't included in the movie or that one scene wasn't done the way they had envisioned it. When I go into an adaptation on film, even if I hold the source material near and dear to my heart, all I'm hoping to see is a good movie, and hopefully a great one. That being said, all nitpicking aside from the "Douglas Adams World League," I found this movie overall to be very good, and at sometimes even fucking brilliant.

This is the most I've laughed out loud in a theater in a long, long time. This was the first movie I can remember seeing this year I didn't want to end. So, on that note, maybe this will get a little overpraised, but dammit it felt good to not leave the theater annoyed I spent the money to see the film. That is an experience I've only had a handful of times so far in 2005, so with tears of joy I write this review. There are so many funny scenes and sequences in this film, I don't know where to start. The opening montage with the dolphins fleeing is brilliant; the scenes with the ultimate computer are great; Marvin the Robot taking out the enemy is fun to watch; great dialouge throughout the film: "Norway, that was me, I won an award for that."

The performances are nicely done. The highlight of course being Sam Rockwell, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite modern actors to see on the big screen. He fucking owns the role of Zaphoid Beeblebrox. I'm not really sure how Jim Carrey could have made it any better. Sam Rockwell's performance immediately goes up there with Gene Wilder in "Young Frankenstein," Woody Allen in "Annie Hall," and Jack Lemmon in "Some Like it Hot." It is really that great of a comic performance. The other highlight of the film for me, peformance wise, was Bill Nighy as Slartibartfast. But Martin Freeman, Mos Def, and Zooey Deschanel all have their moments as well. You're unlikely to see a better ensemble cast all year. I almost forgot to mention Stephen Fry's narration, which after Rockwell, might be the best performance in the film. I have bitched about narration in films many times in the past, but here is one of the few instances where it actually works.

There are some slow points in the film; the energy is so high through most of it, it has to slow down at some points to catch it's breath. The love story, which Chris mentioned is given a little depth in the film version, but it still comes off as rather unecessary. And while mice actually being the ones performing experiments on people is a funny concept, the penultimate scene with the mice leaves a little to be desired; that was the one scene in the movie that seemed in need of a huge makeover.

Garth Jennings has made an impressive directorial debut here, and I look forward to seeing his work in the future, which if this movie does any business will probably consist of adapting more novels in the series. He's presented as close to the manic world that Douglass Adams envisioned as one is likely to get visually. Seriously, bravo to all involved. Definately worth checking out for the Adams devotee and the newcomers as well.

FINAL GRADE - A-

P.S. Regarding the talkback on Chris's review; I'm glad there is a fellow "Firefly" devotee out there on the blog. I saw the "Serenity" trailer on-line a couple of days ago and it is a thing of beauty, I hope you get to see it, KW.