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| What planet are you from? |
by Edel Coffey
Staff Writer |
“What Planet Are You From?” is a satirical insight into relationships at the turn of the 20th century and shows just how warped our criteria has become for choosing a mate.
 Gary Shandling, of Larry Sanders fame, plays an alien sent to earth with the mission of impregnating a woman. He is from a race whose genitalia disintegrated over the years and so, attaché penis in tow, the task of perpetuating and thus saving his people falls to him. After a crash course in how to attract a woman and succeed in the ultimate goal of “getting into her pants,” Harold Anderson (Shandling) is transported to Seattle in order to fertilize some unsuspecting woman. Annette Bening is charming as the recovering alcoholic and emotionally scarred Susan and the same neurosis she used in “American Beauty” also works well here.
Harold meets Susan when a corrupt workmate invites him to an AA meeting with the specific intention of picking up women. The film is a series of mildly humourous misunderstandings based on the gap between the male and the female consciousness. If “Fourth Rock From the Sun” springs to mind, you already have a good idea of what this film is about. Indeed this is but a feature length episode with different actors and a few minor adjustments here and there.
Although the film is intended to be a comedy, there are a few subtle and insightful social comments that deserve to be mentioned. The most obvious is how relationships between men and women have changed in the past 100 years. For example, when Harold confides in his workmate Perry that he’s getting married, Perry is shocked and appalled to find that Harold has yet to sleep with the woman. “How can you marry a woman you’ve never done?” he cries in disbelief. Otherworldly as it may seem, this was once the proper thing, as virgins all over the world united without a second thought.
Another aspect of today’s society mentioned here is the way many thirty-something women rush into marriage for the sole reason that they feel time is running out for them. Susan, whose biological clock is resounding throughout her whole being, becomes the perfect prey for Harold.
The film illustrates the paranoia experienced by middle-aged couples very well, especially with the example of the FBI detective (John Goodman) and his neurotic wife. These two parallel Harold and Susan and show that, alien or not, sometimes men and women are simply on different planets.
The film manages to highlight everything that is wrong with love in the nineties and, at the same time, offers us a solution which is repeated throughout the film.
Despite these somewhat serious motifs, the film is essentially flippant in nature. Its main aim is to amuse and it does so to a certain extent. However, the moments of real comedy are rare, which is disappointing when someone as naturally comedic as Shandling is involved. |
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