Galaxy Quest successfully pulls off a pretty difficult trick. It first gets laughs out of the notion of a bunch of ageing has-been actors reduced to doing the promotional rounds of fan conventions for the cancelled SF series they once starred in. Subtly, almost imperceptibly, however, it also portrays them in sufficiently sympathetic detail that, when they then find themselves in genuine jeopardy and are forced to find depths of resourcefulness they never knew they had in order to survive, we actually care deeply about the outcome.
This feat requires the writing, direction and performances all to be top-notch. Fortunately, they are. There's a wonderful scene near the beginning of the film where Tim Allen, as washed-up actor Jason Nesmith, drinks himself into a stupor while watching his younger self saving the galaxy on TV. We cut between the hammy, Shatneresque heroics of Nesmith on screen, to Allen's beautifully played reaction in the here and now as he struggles to speak a few lines of dialogue in unison with his screen self before shutting his eyes in pain to block it out.
Repeated viewing reveals many wonderful gags and nuances that are easily missed first time around. Just one example: during the opening credits sequence where the cast are waiting backstage at a convention for Allen to show up, we see Fred Kwan (played by Tony Shalhoub) struggling unsuccessfully for several minutes to open a biscuit tin. Only later do we discover that Fred's character in the TV series is the ship's engineer.
Galaxy Quest has genuinely funny dialogue, and moments of enjoyable knockabout humour, blended with warm, likable characters. It has, ironically, better visual FX than The Phantom Menace (the hilarious sequence of the ship leaving space dock only works because the effects are flawless).
And it has moments of genuine poignancy. Recommended.
This feat requires the writing, direction and performances all to be top-notch. Fortunately, they are. There's a wonderful scene near the beginning of the film where Tim Allen, as washed-up actor Jason Nesmith, drinks himself into a stupor while watching his younger self saving the galaxy on TV. We cut between the hammy, Shatneresque heroics of Nesmith on screen, to Allen's beautifully played reaction in the here and now as he struggles to speak a few lines of dialogue in unison with his screen self before shutting his eyes in pain to block it out.
Repeated viewing reveals many wonderful gags and nuances that are easily missed first time around. Just one example: during the opening credits sequence where the cast are waiting backstage at a convention for Allen to show up, we see Fred Kwan (played by Tony Shalhoub) struggling unsuccessfully for several minutes to open a biscuit tin. Only later do we discover that Fred's character in the TV series is the ship's engineer.
Galaxy Quest has genuinely funny dialogue, and moments of enjoyable knockabout humour, blended with warm, likable characters. It has, ironically, better visual FX than The Phantom Menace (the hilarious sequence of the ship leaving space dock only works because the effects are flawless).
And it has moments of genuine poignancy. Recommended.