Director: Mike Judge
Cast: Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Terry Crews
Have I Seen it Before: Oh, sure. Does anyone get out of the mid-aughts without having seen it? Although it has been years, the refrain, “spelled thusly” is frequently repeated in these parts.
Did I Like It: Since those years have passed, there arises one fundamental question: As we have made quantum leaps in the field of willful ignorance in those intervening years, does the film remain as funny as it once was, or has it been rendered utterly depressing?
There are plenty of jokes which I can’t imagine played all that well nearly twenty years ago* that I just have to sit stone faced through now. Just because they are being uttered by avowed morons. But aside from that, the film is just as perfect a blend of science fiction and the mid-aught comedy sensibility of the time that I’m prepared to say to say that it still holds up.
In fact, as I type that, I might be willing to go a step further and say that it remains a step above other films which might lay claim to that same genre. Movies like Men in Black (1997) or Galaxy Quest (1999) might be sci-fi comedies, but ultimately too tame to actually have anything to say about the future**. Then—when I think about comedies twenty years ago***—I wonder what a movie like this would be if it were directed by Judd Apatow or any of his acolytes, and it is almost guaranteed that the film would be something less than still watchable.
*You’ll pardon me, while I disappear into the mists of time for just a moment.
**Yes, even Galaxy Quest. You know where to find me if you want to fight me.
***Whoops. There I go into the mists again.