Reviewed by: Doug Stuart
CONTRIBUTOR
Moral Rating: | Very Offensive |
Moviemaking Quality: |
|
Primary Audience: | Teens Adults |
Genre: | Comedy |
Length: | 1 hr. 41 min. |
Year of Release: | 2001 |
USA Release: |
June 8, 2001 |
Featuring | David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott and Sarah Silverman |
Director |
Ivan Reitman |
Producer | Ivan Reitman, Joe Medjuck, Daniel Goldberg, Dan Goldberg |
Distributor |
DreamWorks Pictures, aka DreamWorks Studios, a production label of Amblin Partners |
Take the idea of “Ghostbusters”, the sci-fi creativity of “Jurassic Park”, and the seemingly too-smart antagonist of “Tremors”. Pack it all in from the director of “Ghostbusters”, the humorous antics from Orlando Jones and Sean William Scott, and the great acting from David Duhkovny, and you have “Evolution”.
When a meteor carrying one-celled alien organisms lands on Earth, two science professors and a college-aged kid find that the organisms are evolving at a rate millions of times faster than our “evolving” into the human race. Since these alien creatures can evolve very rapidly (three weeks in the film), it is vital to destroy them. The government steps in, and tries to find military tactics to destroy them. But there’s one problem: (I’ll not give it away). Leave it to our two profs (Jones and Duhkovny), a kid who knows absolutely nothing but how to drive a fire truck (Sean William Scott), and a Pentagon doctor (Julianne Moore) who falls for one of the profs to save the world.
The solution? Head and Shoulders. Yes, the shampoo. There is an active ingredient that would kill these alien creatures, and our team of four (can we say Ghostbusters again?) has their work cut out for them.
While I don’t want to write a dissertation, I would certainly like to defend why I believe this movie was really great. For one, it was produced by DreamWorks SKG, Steven Spielberg’s distribution company. Second, you have a team of actors who make this film carry through without having to drone in on one character’s development. Third, the age-target is late teens to early twenties; and to this age group, it satisfies. Fourth, plotline isn’t what this movie is all about—it’s about science fiction and humor.
Sexual innuendos and swearing is part of the world. We cannot expect Hollywood to adhere to biblical standards in making movies. “Evolution” has swearing, and many sexual references (in jest mostly), so if that is offensive to you, you may wish to skip “Evolution”.
However, if you are looking for a laid back entertaining comedy not too high on the intelligence factor, “Evolution” may be for you. But if you want a deep plot with developing characters and the humor of Robin Williams, forget it.