Uma Cômica Invasão

I liked the book, and thought that the movie was one of the very rare instances in which the movie made parts of it better (the choice of final annoying song and dance number, turning the Martians from all looking alike into a troupe of mostly talented stand-up comedians, the method of sending them home).

Still, the fact that a sci-fi comedy book from over 50 years ago could be made into an even remotely entertaining and relevant movie says a lot about the quality of the novel.

It's not Spaceballs, Hitchhiker's Guide, or Galaxy Quest, but it's still mostly funny.

Plus, I always love Gerrit Graham.

A classic, if light, SF comedy novel becomes a tired and dragging mess. Some writers and directors have the talent and ability to overcome the limitations of a low budget, to show what they are capable of - but in this film there is nothing to suggest they could ever raise themselves above straight to video and 3am showings.

Not the worst movie I have ever seen, but close (that dubious honour is split between Cheerleader Ninjas and Space Thing). Martians come to town and annoy the f*** out of humans. That's it for the idea. Apparently the book is much, MUCH better.

The good things I have to say are few, but I need this bit for you to be able to read this: the director knows how to point a camera, get a scene edited to his liking, and at least not rely on ridiculous amounts of fart jokes and dildoes (both Cheerleader Ninjas references).

And to the person that was suggesting that we were wrong to call this movie bad Sci-fi: You're very wrong. We acknowledge that this movie is not particularly scientific. The problem is that it's bad COMEDY.

You know, if the Martians used this movie as a weapon to invade, they'd have conquered Earth a long time ago.

"Martians Go Home" is about as bad as sci-fi gets. In fact, this isn't even sci-fi; it's what dumb people think is sci-fi. This is what freshmen screen writers turn in for their first major script, thinking it's sci-fi. No self-respecting bird would have his cage lined with this script.

Okay, get the picture? No? Well, consider this....

This travesty-on-film stars Quaid as a commercial jingle writer who writes a song that Martians receive and take as a hint to invade, which they do. Looks like they sent their worst, though, cause all that is sent to overpower us are a bunch of green-skinned losers that look and act like those filler acts they have at The Improv.

I never read the book this movie was based on. I'm kind of afraid to now; just gun-shy, I guess. But if film makers could be so off-base on a movie where the book is supposed to be so superior, is it any wonder that no one's heard much from the director and writers since this?

No, I didn't think so.

TIDBIT - after this mess, three of the stars here went on to do a MUCH superior sci-fi film. Quaid and Colin had major parts in "Independence Day", which was co-scripted by Dean Devlin. Talk about a step-up!

No stars for these least-favorite "Martians".

This is a horrible, unfunny film. The real tragedy here is that it is based on a funny, popular novel by the late Fredric Brown. Brown is a terrific writer of both science fiction and mystery novels. This was his most popular novel and did not deserve such a fate. Look for the book in your libraries. Look for this movie in your toilet. Senor Sock go.to/senor_