4/5 Turn off your brain and just enjoy!
  by A. Fondacaro (Austin, TX)
This is one of those movies that make the end of the week so enjoyable. You've spent your whole week dealing with people at work, a job you're not so enthused about, all the frustrations of bills and daily aggravations, but at least you have a movie like this to pop in where none of that matters for a while.

I give this movie such a high mark because of it's value in that regard. I know that by Friday night I'm not looking for a "Schindler's List" to watch, not even a semi-serious comedy. No no, I want the lowest low-brain humor I can possibly find. The stupid humor, where I can laugh loud and often. So you see, it's not so much how good the plot is, or the production, but what the movie can do for you.

The plot is thus; Dick Nelson (who seems to be a normal guy, but is given all the idiosyncracies of the normal guy by Jeff Jones so that he seems quirky) and his wife Marge are on their way to a vacation in their Station Wagon, when an intergalactic magnet manned by a walking Napoleon charicature named Todd Spengo lifts them off the ground, into space, and onto the miniscule speck of a planet that Spengo rules (prompting the obligatory "It's not the size of your planet, it's how you use it.")

What follows is a casserole of Monty Python-inspired humor with a great cameo by Eric Idle who dubs Jones's character anew as "Earth-Dick." Todd Spengo, played by Jon Lovitz in his last good role, is probably the best source of laughs. You wonder how the heck this guy manages to rule a planet when he can't complete this verse in a song, "Oh Marge, Oh Marge, my love for you is..." Not that it matters. I don't think I've ever laughed harder than at the flash-grenade scene, or when Spengo asks his guards "mutton-chops... or goatee?"

Props to Teri Garr too for getting in the spirit of things. You wonder if this character isn't the antithesis of her trouble-wife character in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," but then you think "Naaaah." I like her better in this than "Young Frankenstein" as well.

So yes, buy it, watch it. Don't look to be enlightened, just uplifted. If silliness like this were more prevalent in the world, I predict we'd have a nicer place to live in.

5/5 STUPID AND SMART at the same time
  by Mojo Jojo
This was another obscure movie that I was lucky enough to catch in theaters on its orignal release. I was drawn by the sheer goofiness of the title and the cast.

The concept is simple. Stupid Aliens vs Humans of Average Intelligence. The execution is what makes or breaks a movie, and this one is surpsingly well done. The sets and props are bizarre, intentionally so. This is a universe where even the blasters shoot squiggly lasers.

The writing is uproariously dumb but witty and sophisticated at the same time. I know lots of people think these qualities are mutually exclusive, but great comedy (even broad comedy) requires a deft touch to work. It's hard to explain, since this movie dwells so far in absurdity, but when the smarts are missing, it shows. Just check out pretty much any film by Shaun and Marlon Wayans for a painful example. And if you love the Wayans, don't bother with this film. There's not nearly enough fart jokes for you.

My biggest pleasure is finally seeing Jeffrey Jones in a starring part. He's a talented actor who otherwise plays strong supporting roles. You'll recognize him, even if you don't know his name.

Check it out and laugh at some inspired ridiculousness.

5/5 True Genius!
  by cycoe@aol.com (St. Petersburg, FL)
I may be criticized for my rating, but this movie is truly a classic. I myself own it. Jon Lovitz is spectacular, and name another movie where someone shoots themself in the head because they chose "muttonchops" instead of a goatee. Highly entertaining ridiculous humor. A true visual and audio cornucopia of delight and stupidity! I recommend this to anyone who enjoys inane activity.

5/5 Deserves better
  by Wayne A. (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
This was supposed to be John Lovitz's breakout film and why it wasn't is anybody's guess. What you have here is a hilarious screwball comedy adaptation of Flash Gordon where suburban Mom and Dad are kidnapped and hauled to the alien planet...in their station wagon (a primitive form of SUV). Teri Garr and Jeff Jones as the "folks" give their usual great performances (really, neither has ever done anything less than a first rate job in any movie) and Lovitz is sensational as Emperor Todd. Plenty of good additional cast members and highly imaginative costumes and sets add to the entertainment.

The level of comedy is great. A favorite moment in this film (and a favorite film moment altogether) is when the family station wagon--zipping through space pulled by a magnetic beam--passes the planet Saturn and "mom" takes a Kodak photo of it using the flash. That's a joke that's subtler than it looks and this sort of slapstick/thoughtful (and plenty of satire) runs through the whole movie. It's dopey but it's smart dopey.

They've resurrected the brilliant, stunning, wondrous, amazing "Freaked!" from this era (Oh, don't we long for those good old days--late Eighties to late Nineties!) and the DVD of that should go right to the top of any comedy lover's want list. It's time to get this fun film back in circulation because we sure as heck need good laughs these days!

5/5 Worth the second glance
  by S. Spaihts-Mohns (Haverhill, MA)
This film kept me laughing for hours. It's random, off the wall, and absolutely hillarious.
Do not be fooled by its stupid appearance-- it's not dumb humor, so much as it's making fun of dumb humor. It's incredibly wacky in some remarkably intelligent ways, and it even has a plot.

If you like Monty Python, you'll love Mom and Dad Save the World.