2001: A Space Travesty (2001)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Starring Leslie Nielsen, Ophèlie Winter, Ezio Greggio, Peter Egan, Alexandra Kamp-Groeneveld, Damien Masson
Directed by Allan A. Goldstein
Written by Alan Shearman and Francesco Lucente
Cinematography by Sylvain Brault
Original Music by Claude Foisy

Features:

• Trailers
  

Rating: R

Anamorphic: Nope

My Advice: Rent it if you like this sort of thing.

It seems as if it’s been getting harder and harder to find good comedy in the theatres and on DVD these days. While Leslie Nielsen’s brand of slapstick goofiness might not be to everyone’s taste, those who do appreciate this kind of humor, as well as scatological or sexual jokes, will also enjoy this new offering. This time, he has delved back into the genre of incompetent detective, a la Pink Panther, as Marshall Richard “Dick” Dix. Dix hears rumors that the U.S. President has been kidnapped and is being held on a secret moon base and that the guy currently sitting in the Oval Office is a clone...or is he? Accidentally replacing the real President with a clone President, Dix must now undo what he has just done before aliens invade. Fans of science fiction movies will recognize most of the tropes exposed to satire in this film: the clones, the double-cross, the inevitable secret moon base, etc.

Nielsen himself maintains his trademark deadpan delivery, and I was hoping that this film might be a clever commentary on the social morass of many early science fiction films. And yet the comedy just isn’t really there in a lot of places. The jokes themselves feel awfully dated, as if they were written in the late 1980s to early 90s or so, especially given the dated star parodies, such as the Village People and former President Clinton. Many of the jokes here seemed to be trying to blend the successful Police Academy franchise with the recent Austin Powers films: slapstick silliness mated to sexual and potty humor. For example, the lead vixen is named “Cassandra Menage.” Nielsen does his best with what he’s given and almost pulls out a few moments here and there, but they should have gotten a different writer--one with more recent experience writing comedies. Comedy can be tricky; it changes as fast as society does.

The special features are nonexistent. You would think that with a film like this, a bloopers reel would be a natural, but perhaps the audience's initial reaction to the film was so low, the producers didn’t think it warranted any features, which is a shame. Another nice feature would have been an interview with the man himself, Nielsen. I feel quite sure that an interview about the movie would have been as funny, if not funnier, than the film itself.

In short, you have to appreciate any actor who doesn’t think he’s too good to make fun of himself, and that’s what Nielsen does here. He isn’t afraid to look silly in order to get a laugh, and he still gets the girl. How can you not love such innocence in a jaded world, at least a bit? Too bad they didn’t give him a writer worth his talents here. If you’re just in the mood for silly, puerile humor (and we all are, sometimes), or if you’re under thirteen and the word “penis” sends you into gails of laughter, then check this one out. Otherwise, skip it and check out something with a bit more sophistication.