EVOLUTION
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Originally viewed on July 3rd, 2001
The beauty of comedy is that there are no rules and, quite simply, rules are
made to be broken in the comedic arena. Director Ivan Reitman is often aware
of this, as evidenced by his crude though subtly funny "Junior" and, his biggest
hit, "Ghostbusters." Both films redefined the boundaries of good
taste by imbuing crudeness with cleverness rather than cheap, desperate gags
a'la "Austin Powers" that only serve to make the audience puke. Consider
Arnold Schwarzenegger as a pregnant man in "Junior," a premise that is otherwise
ripe for gross-out humor. Instead that film built its premise with wit and
engaging repartee between Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito.
"Evolution" does the same thing, imbuing crudeness with cleverness. The premise
deals with a community college science teacher (and former scientist), Ira Kane
(David Duchovny), who partners with a sharp, jocose scientist, Harry Block
(Orlando Jones), to investigate a flaming meteor that has burned a hole through
the ground into an underground cavern. Kane's class goes on a field trip to discover
and study this meteor only to find some strange atmosphere has developed at an
accelerated rate, not to mention some expanding and evolving wormlike creatures.
Kane and Block realize this is no ordinary meteor - it is a fertile ground for alien
creatures. At first, the creatures seem harmless in the form of butterflies until they
later evolve into flying dinosaurs, raging blue monkeys and some shapeless
matter in the form of large intestines.
The only way to approach "Evolution" is by checking your brain at the entrance
door of the cinema before the first reel is projected. It is a one-note joke
movie to be sure but it has moments of eye-opening special-effects, shrewd
one-liners and moments where you will literally jump out of your seat. It mostly pokes
fun at "Independence Day" right down to the climax involving those humongous
intestines where a central digestive tract is the target for destruction - the
expansive mass even looks like a spaceship. Mostly, the screenplay by David
Diamond, David Weissman and Don Jakoby focuses on bodily functions and
sexual entendres, as well as creepy monsters hiding inside harmless looking
alien slugs and such. Many of the sexual entendres center around Julianne
Moore as an assistant to a soldier-scientist (Ted Levine) - she is regarded
at one point as an "icy goddess in desperate need of some humping."
Speaking of the ravishing Moore, it is nice to see her as a clumsy woman
who keeps tripping over objects every once in a while.
"Evolution" is cutesy nonsense and often quite funny and engaging. It is
actually a breath of fresh air as compared to the gross-out humor so reminiscent
of most comedies nowadays - wit and some dry humor are this
film's virtues. As for performances, Duchovny and Jones make a delightful pair
and Moore is lots of fun to watch - nice to see her handle comedy for a
change in contrast to her dramatic roles. Only Ted Levine seems a little out
of his element as the straight-faced soldier scientist, Dr. Woodman, who
doesn't want Kane anywhere near these aliens.
"Evolution" is not as frantically funny or as visually inventive as Reitman's
"Ghostbusters," but it will suffice in what has been a dry couple of years
of laughless comedies.
