What Planet Are You From? Review

Garry Shandling has been selected from a planet of cloned creatures to go to earth, impregnate an earth woman and procreate. Somehow this is the key to overruning earth, we`re never given the details. Given the most rudimentary instructions and a penis that has a malfunction - it buzzes when aroused Harold Anderson, Shandling`s assumed earth name, gets a job in a bank, is introduced to philandering by an expert, a co-worker and rival Greg Kinnear. They meet limited success at bars, but strike gold at Alcoholics Anonymous where Susan, (Annette Bening) has given up waking up not knowing what town she` s in or who`s lying next to her. For some reason she responds to Harold`s less than sophisticated approach...This is a very slickly produced film ... Garry Shandling is actually quite believable as an alien, but the real star of the film is Annette Bening... her rendition of High Hopes is one of the high points of the movie... she`s wonderful, giving the film some much-needed warmth. John Goodman plays an aviation investigator who cottons on to Harold but who can`t find credibility for his sleuthing anywhere, not least from his wife. Greg Kinnear is starting to be typecast as a sleazeball, but he`s actually quite good at it. This is a bit of an oddity of a film, it`s got a sweetness to it, but also something quite cynical about men and women and the human race. It`s possibly an uncomfortable mix at times but I found myself enjoying it.David`s Comments:Garry Shandling`s shambling performance at the centre of the film he helped script and produce is its greatest liability. A lot of this simply isn`t very funny, and it`s often rather obnoxious into the bargain. Where it soars is in the performance of Annette Bening, who brings the character of the wounded alcoholic vividly to life. Mike Nichols` weakest film in many years.