Metacritic-Rezensionen

The writers are comic geniuses, and the experience is so enjoyable that upon viewing This Island Earth's non-MST3K version, a grin will cross your face as you remember this parody masterpiece.

If you're on - or even near - the film's wavelength, it's hilarious.

Part of the appeal of the program is in the wisecracking. But the movies themselves are also crucial. They are so incredibly bad that they get laughs twice--once because of what they are, and again because of what is said about them.

For many, a little of this joking will go a long way; devoted fans, however, will wish for a double-bill. Count me closer to the latter group.

In a movie theater, at least, there are other people to hear you laugh, and the film of MST3K already seems a more communal, less onanistic experience.

About a third as funny as it thinks it is. Still, that's pretty funny and about twice as funny as most American comedies these days.

The charm of MST3K has always been in its self-mocking, cheap, we-just-threw-it-all-together sort of feel. It's a fun enough way to pass the time. And fans of the TV version of MST3K certainly won't be disappointed. But it would be just as much - if not more - fun watching it in your own living room with a bunch of rowdy pals.

The show provides a prodigious number of giggles, and it's so short (well under 90 minutes) that you'll have plenty of time to rent the original This Island Earth and test out wisecracks of your own.

Whether some jokes were studio-tweaked or others simply failed on their own, MST3K: The Movie feels unmistakably like a compromised product, flattened by the stiff headwinds of mediocrity.

In the theater, whenever Mike, Crow or Tom Servo flub a punchline or resort to a fart joke, you almost want to lean forward and shush them.