The Creature Wasn't Nice

I am absolutely astonished that this movie ever got made, much less released. It isn't self mocking enough to make you think they were trying to be bad on purpose...Leslie Nielsen is great at that and while they all did their best...they had nothing to work with. I figure the stars must've owed someone a favor. This movie sucks! Zero positive points...Just awful! If you don't believe me, watch it...but I warned you!

You'd think a movie made in 1983 right on the heels of "Airplane!" and starring Airplane's own master of deadpan Leslie Nielsen, as well as Cindy Williams (Shirley from "Laverne & Shirley") and Patrick MacNee (whom I'll always think of as Sir Denis Eaton-Hogg from "Spinal Tap") would be a sleeper hit. Well, parts may put you to sleep, but other parts are definitely a hit. In the end I think "Naked Space" aka "Spaceship" aka "The Creature Wasn't Nice" is well worth the ride.

It should be noted that writer/director Bruce Kimmel never intended this comedy to be in the style of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker films "Airplane!" and "Naked Gun", but they were marketed as such, and, according to Kimmel's liner notes on the soundtrack, the film was edited by someone else without his approval. I think Kimmel's style was intended to be something closer to Mel Brooks' early work "12 Chairs", "The Producers", not nearly as zany & absurd as you've been led to believe by the marketing. But if you take it all in stride, a fun time will be had by all.

"Naked Space" has a very low budget look which works in its favor. Most of the gags are pretty tame (the film is rated PG, almost G if not for some brief hilarious gore), and often you may find yourself waiting for a punchline that never comes. If you are expecting Airplane-esque hilarity, you may be disappointed. But the money shot, which even haters of this film must admit is pretty great, comes in the 2nd half when we get a moment of sheer Mel Brooksian gold. That's all I'll say because it's best left as a surprise. But if you don't mind a mild spo!ler, go to YouTube and search "I want to eat your face".

The 2nd great moment comes near the end of the film. If nothing else, watch the movie for those 2 scenes, watch it to see a rare assemblage of great 70s- 80s actors, or watch it to kill 91 minutes of your life. The hilarious songs, as well as the movie, were written by director Bruce Kimmel who also co-stars as "John Boy".

Dont get me wrong - i like bad movies - i like them a lot! - So i asked my 'pusher' to bring me a special treat - after all we have been enjoying titles like 'Slavegirls from beyond infinity' and other quality camp productions... - but THIS...

I laughed - a lot even, but that was more in amazement than because of the humorous content - maybe because there is none. Its like the director have deliberately purged the film of all content that could be considered humorous.

The scenes are dragged out like someone with a stopwatch was telling the actors to 'hang in there - this scene is 10 minutes in the script...'. The big hoot: the-singing-alien-scene is - although mildly amusing in the beginning - so long that the actors have serious trouble keeping the puzzled look, and actually started looking seriously bored halfway through the act.

So take the friendly advice of everyone but one of these fine critics - Do NOT watch this film - not even if you have a strong stomach.

As I viewed Naked Space, I wondered, who had something on Patrick MacNee, Leslie Neilson and Cindy Williams to get them to sign off on this stinker!? The beginning of the movie was very slow-paced and the dialog attempted, but failed miserably, to parody that of previous, successful comedies that Leslie Neilson starred in. By the middle and end of the movie, I was waiting for it to end, but it kept going and going and going, like that battery commercial bunny. The ending was not an ending. It was more like a power failure, thank goodness! This $4.99 DVD goes straight into the trash can. I wouldn't pass it on, even to prove a point.

We expected "Naked Gun" style from the title also. Getting into it, we quickly found out the idiocy of this film.

We thought that one redeeming quality is that we can host a MST3K party using this film. (Although it may be TOO stupid to make fun of.)

Our overall impression is that these actors got together, got drunk, and decided to make a film.