My Favorite Martian (1999)

I may have seen worse movies than this, but at present I am hard put to remember them. This movie contained bad acting, bad direction, a terrible script, and a complete lack of humour and soul. I can safely say I did not smile once during this movie, let alone laugh. The characters were not developed, manic running about was apparently a substitute for intelligent dialogue and intelligent jokes ... or in fact, any jokes at all. I certainly expected better of the stars, and I can only assume they must have been hard up for money to appear in this pathetic excuse for entertainment. To summarise, I would describe this movie as complete and utter excrement.

My Favourite Martian (1999, Dir. Donald Petrie) Life couldn't get much worse for News Producer Tim O'Hara. He humiliates the one he loves, Brace Channing and ends up getting fired by her father. Then, a Martian from Mars arrives in his home. The Martian adopts the name 'Uncle Martin' and becomes friends with Tim, whilst he fixes his ship. Unaware to Martin, Tim actually wants to reveal him to the world, but can he actually do that to his new friend and 'Uncle'? I was very young when this came out, and at the time i loved it. I am not familiar at all with the original TV series and had never seen any of the episodes, but i do know what makes a good film, and this film isn't exactly a good film. The film just did not have a well built story. The film just seemed to have a lot of scenes of talking and walking around. The film was basically just following them around in their normal lives. When action did begin to pick up, this was very limited and was over in a matter of minutes. The characters really didn't have much character in them. There weren't many jokes at all coming from any of them. Christopher Lloyd only seemed to play the most interesting character and did provide me with a few laughs. He had all the perfect characteristics, but this still doesn't save a poorly written film."Is there an alien amongst us?" - Brace Channing (Elizabeth Hurley)

Tim (Gary Daniels) wants desperately to break into serious television reporting. When a job he begged for goes awry, he is fired. His beautiful but empty girlfriend (Elizabeth Hurley) says sayonara, too. Coming home, Tim is startled to discover his house has an uninvited visitor (Christopher Lloyd) from the planet Mars! Calling him Uncle Martin, Tim soon tries to help his new friend navigate life on earth. But, Martin gets in trouble wherever he goes, from the bathroom to the laundry room and more. Lovely Lizzie (Daryl Hannah) finally sees an opportunity to make time with Tim but the course of true love does not run smooth in this case, either. Soon everyone in television is stalking Tim, hoping for a story about a true alien. What's a man to do? For those who loved the old television show of the same name, with Bill Bixby and Ray Walston, this film is not worthy to tie the proverbial boots. Its truly, undeniably awful, with no plot and a reliance on supposed special effects which fall flat, too. Daniels is okay as the earthling but Lloyd is simply terrible as the alien, overacting up a storm. The rest of the cast is adequate, as are the costumes, set, and production details. Even if your children see the cover and beg for this film, convince them to pick out another flick at the video store. Be assured, kids and adults will find this movie a colossal bore, so opt for A Night at the Museum or Around the World in 80 Days instead.

The last time I watched this film was when I was being looked after by a regular babysitter, we chose it to watch, at the time naturally I would enjoy it, in my adulthood, that was a different matter, from director Donald Petrie (Mystic Pizza, Miss Congeniality). Basically life for Tim O'Hara (Jeff Daniels) is terrible at the moment, being fired from his job as a news producer by Mr. Channing (Godzilla's Michael Lerner), father of his girlfriend, reporter Brace Channing (Elizabeth Hurley). Then his life changes when he discovers a martian crash landed to Earth, this alien forms into a human and becomes "Uncle Martin" (Christopher Lloyd), and he stays with him while he fixes his ship. It starts as a complicated situation where Tim has to keep an eye on Martin and his walking talking silver space suit Zoot (Wayne Knight), and he films the alien in his true form while in the jacuzzi. But this relationship slowly turns into a fond friendship as the antics of the alien grow on the Tim, and he cannot bring himself round to revealing this huge story to the world, despite how much it would do for him. Of course, after some crazy antics involving Zoot flirting with women's clothing, Martin stuffing his face with floating ice cream, and his ability to change his appearance into his friend in front of Tim's new girlfriend Lizzie (Daryl Hannah), the truth does nearly come out. Ruthless reporter Brace manages to find the secret filming in Tim's house and takes it to break the story, and this comes at the wrong time, because Martin reveals if he doesn't leave the planet soon his ship will explode. In the end the nasty Coleye (Toy Story's Wallace Shawn) who wants to catch an alien gets his comeuppance, and Martin was planning to go back to Mars, but he can't find it in himself to leave his friend Tim. Also starring Christine Ebersole as Mrs. Brown, Jeremy Hotz as Billy, Ray Walston as Armitan and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective's Troy Evans as Captain Dalton. It might have some good names in the cast, and it might have some alright special effects in moments, but neither of these things do the film any favours whatsoever, it is overly childish and a most appallingly predictable story based on a television show, a ridiculous and pointless family science-fiction comedy. Poor!