De que Planeta Você Veio?

This movie didn't do very well at the box office and I don't know why it has to be one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Gary Shandling has never been better as an alien sent to Earth to have sex with a female and bring the child back to his home planet. But while on Earth Shandling runs into all sorts of problems. One of the more funny happenings in the film is that whenever stimulated his penis generates a humming noise. John Goodman is also hilarious as the man trying to find the alien. It is very entertaining to watch Sandling who comes to Earth as a horney alien turn into a slob of a man after he is married to Anette Benning, maybe this movie could be much more accurate than we give it credit. So although it is no Snatch or Made if you are looking for something less gross out than American Pie but still craving those masculine sex jokes this movie is sure not to dissapoint.

I have long been a fan of Gary Shandling ever since his show on Fox. He has a perfect way a delivering the dead pan punch line. Gary is perfectly cast as the emotionless alien who comes to impregnate a woman in order to take over our world. What Planet Are You From has its flaws and arguments could be made for not liking this film. At times it is uneven and not sure what direction it wants to take. Sub plots are left unexplained or ended in a somewhat confusing fashion. All of these distractions are a side note to hilarious writing and stellar acting from a great cast including John Goodman, Greg Kinnear, Linda Fiorentino, and Annette Benning. The jokes are all dead on and Shandling's performance, especially as he develops into the more atypical male stereotype, is brilliant.

I don't know why I'm afraid to admit it, but WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM? is definitely one of my guilty pleasures which I have viewed multiple times and still find highly entertaining. This cute and entertaining comedy stars Garry Shandling as an alien sent to earth to impregnate a woman and bring the baby back to his planet. He ends up targeting a real estate agent and recovering alcoholic (Annette Bening) as his target, but he doesn't plan on complications like love, marriage, friends, business competitors...those little things that we earthlings deal with on a daily basis but an alien from another planet would have no concept of. The opening scenes of the aliens being educated on the female erogenous zones are quite amusing as is Shandling's explanations of women to aliens when he returns to his planet after impregnating Bening and stealing the baby. Bening is charming in a rare comedic turn and even gets to sing. Greg Kinnear scores as a slimy co-worker of Shandling's and Linda Fiorentino makes the most of her brief appearance as his sexy wife. John Goodman is solid as a cynical UFO investigator who can't get anyone to believe there is an alien on earth and has to deal with his paranoid wife (Caroline Aaron) who is convinced the man is cheating on her. Ben Kingsley, in a refreshing change of pace, plays the stone-faced leader of Shandling's planet and Camryn Manheim, Nora Dunn, and Ann Cusack appear as Bening's girlfriends. Shandling co-wrote this comedy, smoothly directed by Mike Nichols, of all people. It's no masterpiece, but there are worse ways to kill 90 minutes and there are laughs to be had along the way.

Garry Shandling is an unattractive man who looks as if he is suffering from a perpetual state of constipation, and, can you believe it?, he still manages to be enjoyable (and even loveable, of all things) in his latest movie, What Planet Are You From? Despite a clunky title and an unlikely leading man (even Shandling himself seems stunned by the reality of it), this movie manages to just barely pull off a decent performance.

The premise seems much more suited to an hour and a half of repetitive penis jokes (and, in some ways, it gets close to that): Shandling plays Harold Anderson, an alien from a planet inhabited by impotent, super-intelligent men bent on universal domination. Led by a stiff-lipped Ben Kingsley (whose neck seems to have disappeared) this race of uber-men has lost all semblances of emotion, let alone sexuality. In their quest for universal rulership, they have chosen Earth as their next target. Their goal? To impregnate a human woman and begin populating the world with "their kind."

Of the millions of available aliens, Shandling is chosen as their ambassador, and after being fitted with an artificial and somewhat dysfunctional penis (it hums when erect), he travels to Earth in a glowing white ball and immediately begins incorporating the lessons he learned about the delicate art of female seduction. For instance, he has an endless bevy of "nice footwear" and "nice perfume" remarks, including some slang: "Kitty likes to scratch!"

Sounds like a one-hour one-liner, huh?

Fortunately, it's not. It's safe to say the movie would have fallen flat on its alien face if it weren't for the stellar performance of Annette Benning as the one woman who finally falls for the bumbling alien's "charms." She manages to take this ludicrous premise and bring a touching dose of reality to it, giving a normally crass idea a glimmer of merit. She is what diversifies Shandling's occasionally monotonous character, and it is through her eyes that the film sheds its hokiness and becomes a real movie.

Co-stars John Goodman and Greg Kinnear, to their credit, do a great job as well, both of them displaying an untypical amount of restraint. As far-fetched as it seems, it is the undertones and quiet moments in this film that render it watchable. Likewise, those moments are what keep the joke from getting old. Director Mike Nichols (who gave us such gems as Catch-22 and The Graduate) has combined the quiet soul of his Regarding Henry with the flamboyant ditziness of his The Birdcage to come up with something truly remarkable: a Garry Shandling movie that works.

It certainly has its flaws, like most flicks, and many times the plot seems to stop and start just like Harold's malfunctioning member. However, although the jokes reach levels the man from Nantucket would be proud of, they mostly act as reminders that, no matter how much we poke fun at sex and marriage, most of the jokes are true. What Planet Are You From? has its out-there moments, but it still hits close to home.

This is a cute little sex farce starring and written by Garry Shandling. Harold Anderson (Shandling) is actually an alien on a very special mission. He must impregnate an earth woman to begin the infiltration of earth for eventual domination and takeover. He has done his research and learned to be a good listener, dutifully repeating `uh huh' at every utterance by a female. Unfortunately, there are certain subtleties he hasn't mastered in the fine art of seduction, and he gets his face slapped repeatedly.

After countless humorous failures, he meets Susan (Annette Benning), his future mate and discovers that the only way she will have sex with him is if he marries her. After the nuptials he learns that all the rules of engagement have changed.

This droll script ranges from mildly silly to hysterical as it holds a circus mirror up to our mating rituals. Shandling is always funny with his deadpan whiney style, but the real treat here is Annette Benning. She makes this film work as Shandling's overwrought love interest. As she did in `American Beauty', she plays another caricature role to perfection. Here she is the aging female who has been a continual loser at the dating game and is desperately searching for love. Her brilliant performance is a treat that upstages Shandling at every turn. In addition, the rest of the cast is wonderful and fits well with Shandling's wry sense of humor.

This is a fun and very light comedy that works well most of the time. I rated it 7/10. Viewers who are offended by nudity, profanity and sexual situations should pass. Others will probably enjoy more than a few good laughs.