Starman (1984)

The whole movie was a dream she had. We see main character, a grieving widow, in opening scene, watching a home movie of her husband with music, "all You Have to Do is Dream." She then enters her bedroom. We see the craft entering the atmosphere and landing on earth. She "awakes" to find her husband "reborn" in her living room. The two then engage in a transcontinental odyssey to secure his safe passage to the Beyond, while she is reconciled with a symbol of their union in a baby. Sweet movie, well-crafted.

A 360 degree assault on acting, scriptwriting and on both science AND fiction. Displaying the most risible notion of what an alien visiting Earth would experience - Jeff friggin Bridges' shambolic doppelgänger, clutching its magic balls and teasing out with his immense otherworldly intellect the most witheringly inane platitudes known to man or alienkind. Playing like the first sci-fi sponsored entirely by the Hallmark Channel. A total antithesis to all intelligent discourse on the subject of extraterrestrials with a supporting cast so paper-thin I thought for a moment I was watching GI-Joe. This is Starman. Yes, there are worse films in existence but the fact that this dreck gleaned some measure of critical success has melted my mind.

Yes! This is a marvelous movie about humanity - our fears, hopes, strengths and weaknesses. Jeff Bridges is amazing as the Starman - he really seems to be not of this earth. Karen Allen is lovely and so appealing as she overcomes her fear and proves that love is universal. Plus Charles Martin Smith - Terry the Toad (ugh!) in "American Graffiti" - really rocks it as a humanitarian scientist, one who realizes that we invited the Starman and owe him a little respect. Not exactly handsome, but he's grown so lovable since his early role as a clumsy nerd. Probably he played that unattractive part so convincingly because he's an intelligent and talented actor. I've seen the flick ten times or more but it never grows old. It always amazes me. The acting is convincing and the story is well told. Indeed it is a brilliant romance which warms and informs the heart.

I don't know if it's cynical to describe "Starman" as "E.T." for grownups, adults, or what-have-you, but the comparison's certainly there. Which isn't to badmouth "E.T.", goodness knows I hold that movie in high regard. But "Starman" is definitely about healing, either literally with Jeff Bridges and his mystical marbles or helping Karen Allen to grieve her husband's death and start feeling again. Both actors are something to see here. Bridges transforms himself into an innocent, almost mechanized presence as Starman learns the cultures and barbarism of humans. Allen has the market cornered in hopelessly lost and numb. Just seeing here try to define love to an alien is heartbreaking. There is sadness inherent in this movie, but it's also deeply sentimental and will touch even the most hardened.A fine movie indeed.8/10