Ok. Now that I've finally seen it (it took me a week to get a babysitter).... Here's my take.....
First, my background.... Big Adams fan. Actually read the Hitchhiker's Guide books as they came out. I also had all of the Infocom games, the radio show on MP3, the TV series on VHS, the Complete book in leather bound and the "Illustrated Guide" (big book with large color photos.)
I also have read Dirk Gently, Dark Tea Time, played Starship Titanic and have Terry Jone's adaption of the game to novel.
I understand that Douglas Adams put forth a "concept" and that it's perfectly suitable for the movie to NOT follow the book, radio show or TV show. I also realize the writing of this movie was 20 years in the making with Douglas dying half way through the process. I also "get" British humor. Big Monty Python fan, in fact. Have all of the DVD's of the Flying Circuis and the movies.
That said... I have to say that I was disappointed.
Why?
The writing of the new storyline was great. The special effects were awesome. I loved everything from the talking sofa's to the Vogon's going in and out of warp, the Vogon's super boom microphone, Zaphod's two heads, Humma's legs, Marvin... It was all great!
The little "Hitchhiker's Guide" animated segments were perfect.
Since it's Douglas Adams, naturally there's going to be campiness. I EXPECT camp. Did I mention talking sofa's? Every time the Heart of Gold went into Improbability Overdrive, the audience chuckled with the results. The yarn one got a good LOL out of me.
It was the ACTING that ruined EVERYTHING.
They should have doubled the budget and gotten people that could act.
Everyone sounded like they were DRUNK! Slurring speech, stumbling over lines. Bad cominc timing.
Sam Rockwell as Zaphod was ok. But Robin Williams or Jim Carrey or some off-the-wall hyper character actor would have made it. Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent was the only good acting... and that's not saying much. Zooey Deschanel is "cute" as Trillian, but her acting was downright annoying. And don't even get me started with Mos Def as Ford. He got WORSE as the movie wore on. The only thing he did that made me laugh is when Ford and Zaphod drank a Pangalactic Gargleblaster, the narrator said it was like getting hit in the head with a lemon wrapped around a brick and then Zaphod and Ford let out a WHOO HOO! like they just took a shot of pure evil.
Also, it seemed like the target audience was JUST Hitchhiker's fans. I was watching the movie thinking, "There's going to be people that don't get parts of this." Right off the bat, the whole Ford and Arthur thing went by WAY too fast. Whizz right by the demolition of Arthur's house, really no detailed explaination as to WHY Ford was guzzling the beers and eating the peanuts (although I like how they added giving the beer to the construction crew to buy time.) It took a while to get into the explaination of the Improbability Drive, although they did talk about "Improbability" a bit. They missed the whole "Non-Existence of God QED" and when the whale was falling from the sky.. he's reciting his lines at a mile a minute! As if he KNEW he was dying as soon as he hit the ground, which OBVIOUSLY the whale DOESN'T know or he wouldn't try to make friends with the ground!!!!
So there's the whole "inside joke" thing going on, and I thought, "Maybe the bad acting is a part of the inside joke that I just don't get."
I was starting to think it was an aspect of British humor that I must have outgrown and then Bill Nighy as Slartibartfast came on the screen. He was bad too. And what made him worse was his attempt at the whole "Errr... Uhh... Umm.. No...I mean YES!" confused Brit type of comedy that Monty Python is famous for. Nobody could do that sort of "slap stick" as well as Monty Python's Micheal Palin. I came to the conclusion that nobody does it worse than Bill Nighy. Can you imagine Michael Palin delivering the line, "You'll be late, as in the Late Dent Arthur Dent."? That would have been so AWESOME!
So at that moment, it dawned on me. I wasn't missing anything. I wasn't on the outside of the inside joke. The cast just SUCKED! Such a shame too. Thank GOD the effects were so good or I would've been PISSED!
For Hitchhiker fans it's a must see. Not a Hitchhiker fan? Don't bother. Rent the DVD when it comes out. You'll love some of the slapstick (who else liked the spatula-like creatures that flipped up out of the mud and whacked everyone in the face?) and the special effects. But in a theatre, the acting will just make you squirm in your seat. Read the book so you have a clue as to what's going on. The paperback of the first novel is all you need.
Watching this movie wants me to bust out the old TV series. The acting is actually WORSE in the TV series and the special effects are LAME, but the story is easy to follow because it's not going 500 MPH with more holes than a piece of swiss cheese.
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