Derivative and undemanding and slightly diverting s-f spoof to do with a single-cell alien species that touches down in Arizona and evolves at an accelerated rate into computer-animated worms, bugs, lizards, and ultimately, thanks to a massive intake of napalm calories, into a humongous amorphous chewing-gum blob. Foremost among the things from which this derives are of course Ghostbusters (with a bone thrown to Dan Aykroyd as Governor of Arizona, a portrait barely distinguishable from his SNL impersonations of Nixon and Dole) and Men in Black. Inasmuch as director Ivan Reitman also directed Ghostbusters and its sequel, it might be felt he has some proprietary rights in this area. Special gifts, on the other hand, are nowhere apt to be felt. Orlando Jones, whose range of expression stretches easily from a Jack Benny slow burn to an Eddie "Rochester" Anderson goggle, is very funny in general, and probably as funny as a man can be when an ER physician is extracting a six-inch winged creature from the man's rectum. And David Duchovny, shedding rather than kidding his X-Files persona (though not shedding the perpetual pout that comes from having a fat lower lip and a nonexistent upper), has made a concerted effort to loosen up, as witness his dropped pants. But alongside Jones he would likely need to be filleted in order not to look stiff. Julianne Moore, Seann William Scott, Ted Levine. (2001) — Duncan Shepherd
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