Bad Movie Month #27: Manos: The Hands of Fate

Lavese las manos, por favor.

Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)

Directed by: Harold P. Warren
Produced by: Harold P. Warren
Written by: Harold P. Warren
Budget: $19,000 (roughly $139,000 in 2015, according to US Department of Labor)

Starring: Harold P. Warren, Diane Mahree, Jackie Neyman, Tom Neyman, John Reynolds

Michael (Warren), his wife Margaret (Mahree), and their daughter, Debbie (Neyman) are on a family vacation in Texas when Michael gets lost on the desert roads. They stumble across a lodge owned by the mysterious Master and his multiple wives, who are some sort of pagan cult that sacrifices people to a hand or something.

Manos: The Hands of Fate is the Casablanca to Plan 9 From Outer Space's Citizen Kane. Released around the same era, with roughly the same quality, the pair of them form a perfect storm of disastrously hilarious camp. This is the result of a movie which started as a bet and was plagued with production issues throughout. After whipping up $19,000 and promising the cast and crew a cut of the profits (because he couldn't pay them a wage), Warren spent a summer creating this cinematic masterpiece.

This is going to be fairly brief, simply because this is a movie I think everyone should watch once. It's pretty much impossible to divide this into good or bad, so let's just start.

The so Manos it's Manos
The first thing you'll notice about the movie is that it starts with a fade-in and several seconds of crackling microphone feedback. The audio quality will stay consistent throughout, with the regular hiss of poor pickup. This is interesting, considering every sound effect and line of dialogue was dubbed back in during post-production. This is particularly noticeable when the words coming from the speakers don't actually sync to the actor's delivery.

The second thing you might notice is that the acting is hilarious, even if you haven't noticed the dubbing issues (I doubt that's the case though). Problems stemming from the size of the sound stage and lighting setup meant that actors had very little space they could move around in. When characters have to run somewhere we see them take a step or two, then fade to a shot of them in the new location. When Michael and Margaret are frantically searching for their daughter they stand outside the front door, stock-still, shouting and waving their flashlight around.

Certain scenes look like they're from a silent-era film. The lighting used during various outside shots created what looks like an unintentional iris shot, and when combined with the lack of color it looks like something spliced in from Birth of a Nation. In addition the lights apparently attracted moths, which are clearly visible flying into and out of the camera's view. There are constant cuts to a couple making out in a car who continuously get told off by police, and nothing ever comes from it. There are multiple different shots of the Master's wives fighting each other, seemingly without any stop. At one point the movie cuts away from the fighting, we have a full length conversation, and it goes back to the wives who are still fighting. This occurs multiple times.

The score is a mix of piano and...clarinet? Whatever it is also sounds like a leftover from the silent film era, so much so that I constantly expected title cards to pop up and tell me what everyone was saying.

Apparently there weren't enough profits to compensate anyone except Neyman and her dog, who received a bicycle and dog food, respectively.

The Rest
For some bizarre reason there was a video game adaptation released in 2012 which featured retro-style graphics and sound design. It got mixed reviews, which is far better than I would have expected. Luckily there hasn't been an attempt at a remake, but I feel like it's only a matter of time before someone who misunderstands why it's entertaining will try and produce it.

Maybe it would work as a stage musical.

Should You Watch It?
Yes. Words can't quite sum up just how off-kilter this movie is.

Bad Movie Month #26: The Toxic Avenger

This won't prepare you.

The Toxic Avenger (1984)

Directed by: Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman
Produced by: Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman, Stuart Strutin
Written by: Lloyd Kaufman, Joe Ritter
Budget: $500,000

Starring: Mitch Cohen, Mark Torgl, Andree Maranda, Pat Ryan, Jr.

In Tromaville, New Jersey (the pollution capital of the world), Melvin Ferd (Torgl) is a tiny little nerd regularly harassed by the thugs who visit the gym where he works. When exposure to toxic waste turns Melvin into a superhuman freak, he uses his abilities to get revenge.

The Toxic Avenger was Troma Entertainment's first big hit after originally producing sex comedies and exploitation films during the 70s. When Lloyd Kaufman had the idea to film a horror movie, this was the result. Watching a Troma movie is an experience; there's something strangely surreal about each production, and The Toxic Avenger is no exception.

This is one of those movies that opens with a "sexy gym" montage, so that should give you a good clue about it already. Straight from the start we get the extremes of all the necessary 80's tropes: sexy gym, big hair, murderous bullies, thug in a headband, girl in a WHAM! shirt, sexploitation scene, and a clear shot of a skull getting crushed under a car tire.

The Good
Though there's not much real "horror" to the movie, the transformation scene where Melvin's skin bubbles and breaks as his hair falls out is actually pretty unnerving. It all looks practical and impresses even compared to today's effects.

And that goes for the gore, too. When someone gets a finger put through their eye or a bloody jaw, it looks good, if a little over the top. There are several moments where people have their skulls cracked, broken, or crushed, and each one looks pretty convincing.

The fight choreography, when there is any, is actually not bad. It's goofy, sure, but you can at least tell what's happening throughout. The stunts are also fairly well done, far better than I would have expected.

The Bad
The worst part about this movie is that there's so little you can really criticize when the entire thing is 100% intentional. Calling the acting bad is redundant, because no one bothered to be anything but camp. To say the writing is bad is to describe every Troma picture's script. It leaves little to say except that you shouldn't bother watching if you aren't prepared for one of the (intentionally) worst movies you'll ever see.

The Rest
Dividing the good and the bad in this one was really difficult, because Troma is in a league of its own. It's definitely the strangest superhero movie I've seen, and not in a bad way.

Gee, there's talk of a remake. Not interested. There are already a lot of sequels, and I think that's plenty of Toxic Avenger for now.

Should You Watch It?
Yes, but I think this is probably something to prepare for, instead of having it sprung on you.

Bad Movie Month #25: Silent Night Deadly Night Part 2

"Naughty this!"

Silent Night Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)

Directed by: Lee Harry
Produced by: Lawrence Applebaum
Written by: Le Harry, Joseph H. Earle, Dennis Patterson, Lawrence Applebaum (story), Lee Harry, Joseph H. Earle (screenplay)
Budget: $100,000

Starring: Jean Miller, Eric Freeman, Elizabeth Kaitan, James L. Newman

This movie was first revealed to me through the internet fossil website YTMND, more specifically through the above clip of the infamous "Garbage day!" scene. I have not seen the first one, and otherwise had no idea what this movie was about before I started it.

Several years after Ricky's brother Billy committed a series of grisly Christmas murders, Ricky is being held in a mental hospital until he can be tried for his part in the first movie's killings. But when Ricky escapes, it's his duty to find out who's nice, and who's naughty...and murder the naughty ones.

This is one of those slasher movies that likes to take the exploitative route, with cheap effects, over-the-top violence, and tawdry nudity and sex scenes. The characters all have plenty of one-liners, though Ricky takes the cake by delivering one every other line or so. The characters are all fairly unlikable or undeveloped, and the murders are fairly mundane, rather than elaborate Christmas-themed events.

The So Bad It's Good
There's a number of lines with hilarious delivery. Any time Ricky talks to his shrink he sounds like he's forcing the words out through his teeth, and the words are often met by an equally stilted one-liner from the shrink. It's a really funny case of movie-therapy, because I can't imagine this therapist made that type of remark when he earned his license.

The performances are hilarious. Freeman does his best in coming across as a cold, arrogant psychopath but the way he raises his eyebrows after pretty much every "I'm evil" line is really goofy. Newman as the shrink feels like a combination of Blackadder-era Hugh Laurie and John Cleese, and all that that entails. In the last forty minutes the movie starts to come into its own with the performances and writing, particularly after Freeman is given free reign to go all killer.

The So Bad It's Bad
The movie starts with a series of flashbacks, which aren't so much flashbacks as reused footage from the first Silent Night, Deadly Night with an occasional voice-over. Because I haven't seen the first one this didn't bother me too much, but if all of the flashback stuff is reused footage than I can only imagine how much filler this is for...fans of the first one, if there are any. For real, there's enough reused footage that I would have probably asked for my money back.

No, really, the entire first movie is retold through flashback over the first 45 minutes, with reused footage from all the important plot points played in sequence. It's probably the most filler-full movie I've seen in a while.

This movie has a following as a cult slasher movie, and I partially understand why. Unfortunately, the parts that make it entertaining are separated by long stretches of exposition and information dumping which really make the movie drag when it's not being funny. Other than the humorous stuff, not a lot happens. The biggest issue is that it doesn't feel like a slasher movie as much as it does a movie about a murderer. I realize that's kind of a minor difference, but when you're watching them it matters.

There's a lot of rape in this movie. It's a delicate topic, and I'm not going to go too far into it here, but I counted at least three different attempted rapes within the first hour, with varying outcomes. Just so you know.

The Rest
The final Silent Night, Deadly Night is number 5: The Toy Maker, released in 1991. I wonder when we're going to get the tongue-in-cheek, reference-filled remake. We got a remake of the first one in 2012, which was pretty well received for what it was. Considering Hollywood is looking for anything to remake maybe holiday season 2016 will be deadly.

Should You Watch It?
You might get something out of this if you're a fan of campy holiday slasher movies, but be prepared to deal with some really sufferingly slow parts in-between the laughs. If you really want to see the best parts, skip to the 40 minute mark, as that's when it becomes something memorable.

Bad Movie Month #24: The Star Wars Holiday Special

Not long enough ago, not far enough away.

The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

Directed by: Steve Binder
Produced by: Gary Smith, Dwight Hemion (executive), Joe Layton, Jeff Starsh, Ken Welch, Mitzie Welch
Written by: Pat Proft, Leonard Ripps, Bruce Vilanch, Rod Warren, Mitzie Welch
Budget: ~$1,000,000

Starring: Harrison Ford, Peter Mayhew, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Art Carney, Kenny Baker, Bea Arthur, Don Francks, Harvey Korman, James Earl Jones

When the Wookiee holiday Life Day is threatened by the Empire, it's up to our heroes to help the walking carpets get their holiday on. Along the way there's countless celebrity cameos, yawn-inducing variety television skits, and the distinct feeling that your brain is slowly seeping out your ears.

The Star Wars Holiday Special has a legendary reputation as one of the worst things ever put to film, both as a Star Wars tie-in and as a production itself. After the release and success of A New Hope CBS pitched the idea of a television special to George Lucas, and everything else is history. Though Lucas wasn't actually involved in this, he is responsible for the story and narrative, so he is most definitely not blameless.

The movie begins with Han and Chewbacca escaping the Empire in a short sequence, followed by roughly fifteen minutes of nothing but Wookiee shrieks and roars. The story swaps between the actual Star Wars stuff, Wookiee yuppie shenanigans, and the endless barrage of awful variety show performances and shorts from a variety of 70s icons and stars who no doubt took their regret with them to the grave.

The very fact that this was created demonstrates the staying power of the Star Wars franchise, because if something like this had been released after, say, the Fellowship of the Ring, then I can't imagine Jackson would have had the perseverance to continue the series at all.

The So Mediocre It's Tolerable
The animated sequence that serves as Boba Fett's introduction to the Star Wars universe at least has Boba Fett atop a dinosaur, so there's that. Again, I can't help but wonder how a character introduced in such a way made any positive impact on the fan base, especially considering the original portrayal of Fett in episodes 5 and 6 show him as nothing more than incompetent or lucky. Fett is easily the coolest part of this, so much so that he feels incredibly out of place.

Jefferson Starship's performance of "Light the Sky on Fire" is okay, I guess. Bea Arthur shows up as a bartender at a Tatooine cantina and sings a song about having one more round before the Empire comes and murders everyone. Her performance almost sells the idea that she owns a drinking establishment while under the thumb of an oppressive government, and I would have far preferred the special follow her character.

The So Bad It's Horrible
There's pretty much nothing here worth watching, even as a bad movie. This is firmly one of those movies where "bad" means "not entertaining."

No one here is putting any effort into their performances. Hamill is all wide-eyed with some truly terrible makeup to cover his car accident scars, Ford has obviously decided that this could potentially end his film career, and Fisher looks like she's deep in her drug problems. Art Carney tries to be a fast-talking charmer, but he looks like he knows he's above whatever science fiction goofery he's acting in.

The variety shows are consistently awful, boring, nonsensical, and anything in between. The early cooking segment with Harvey Korman in...alien drag (maybe?) had me sitting in slack-jawed amazement and inspired a similar reaction as a robot of some sort that kept glitching out. Jefferson Starship shows up about halfway through to sing on a bad soundstage, and...I can't really remember any of the others. They appear on screen without much fanfare and vanish without leaving any impression except a slight sense that you've just been witness to something that should not be.

Not only are the variety shows badly done, but the ideas behind them don't make any sense within the Star Wars galaxy. There's very little reverence towards the series, and ultimately it makes the entire thing come across as a cheap tie-in to capitalize on the success of A New Hope. None of them feel like they belong in a Star Wars movie at all.

Though the animated sequence feels most like an actual Star Wars story, the animation is actually terrible. Not only is it the worst of late-70s animation, the actual character designs make everyone look like they have a mild case of elephantiasis. Han Solo in particular looks like someone painted a human face on a leather bag and draped it over a skull several sizes too small.

The So Weird It's Awful
Art Carney shows up a bunch as a trader who serves to at least partially tie the various stories together by delivering gifts to various characters. At one point he gives Itchy a hologram that feels disturbingly like a porno. Essentially, Diahann Carroll shows up, tells Itchy that she's his fantasy program, and sings a forgettable song while wearing a wig made out of a mop head.

This special and everything in it is officially considered C-Canon within the Star Wars Continuity, meaning that everything happened unless it's specifically contradicted by one of the TV series or movies. I'm pretty sure that, even with the new canon brought in by The Force Awakens, everything portrayed here still happened.

It feels like parts of this were directed by people who don't know basic film principles. At certain points the shots break the 180 degree rule, with characters looking in wildly different directions than the blocking would indicate. The actors go about their scenes with all the enthusiasm of extras earning a bad paycheck.

There are a number of musical numbers throughout, and I'm pretty sure each of them is set to one of the musical pieces from the series. Bea Arthur sings a song to the tune of the Cantina song, Fisher sings one to the Star Wars theme, and I think there are a few others I missed. It was honestly difficult at times to pay attention, simply due to how non-entertaining the entire thing was. It's hard to explain how strange it is hearing lyrics put to these iconic pieces of music, and it feels wrong while watching, like...you are watching something that should not be. It's difficult to find another way to state that emotion, but it's the best way I've found: this entire thing feels like something that should never have been created, and probably would have been better forgotten.

Life Day apparently involves using wookiee totems to transport yourself to the center of a star, where you wear red robes and stand on a foggy stage to do nothing but roar at each other while Carrie Fisher fails to hit her high notes.

Should You Watch It?
No. If you feel so inclined look up the animated sequence and watch that, but really, it's not worth the almost two hours it takes to watch the entire thing.

The Holiday Special is exactly as bad as everyone says it is.

Bad Movie Month #23: Plan 9 From Outer Space

"Future events such as these will
affect you in the future."

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)

Directed by: Ed Wood
Produced by: Ed Wood, Hugh Thomas, Jr., Charles Burg, J. Edward Reynolds
Written by: Ed Wood
Budget: $60,000 (roughly $489,000 in 2015, according to US Department of Labor)

Starring: Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson, Vampira, Bela Lugosi (posthumously)

When aliens invade and start resurrecting the dead to attack the living, it's time for us as a species to face...grave robbers from outer space...uh, I mean, survive in the face of plan nine from outer space.

Plan 9 is arguably the best known of Ed Wood's films, and one that exemplifies his style of film-making, if that's what you could call it. It's been held up as an example of how many of Wood's ideas may have been just a little higher than he could reach with his budget and, potentially, skill as a director and writer.

It's notable as Bela Lugosi's last screen credit. Wood and Lugosi developed a close friendship towards the last few years of Lugosi's life, and Wood planned on his inclusion in an abandoned film of his. After the actor died, Wood used what footage he had in this one. This is fairly easy to notice at certain points because Wood utilized almost every scrap of film from Lugosi's part, including trims and shots that would normally have been left on the cutting room floor and the drop in quality is noticeable even through the standard Wood camp.

The So Bad It's Good
The physical production is the Woodiest of Ed Wood movies, with cardboard headstones, a jet cockpit rendered by a curtain and nondescript steering yokes of some sort. At several points actors will bump into the headstones and you can clearly see them wobble against the curtain hanging behind the set. Whenever you see an actual UFO flying around it's clearly tied to a string and moving against a backdrop and the only exterior shot of the landed ship is represented by the corner of a building and a ladder.

Action scenes are handled with the classic Wood style, with stock footage cut in with very cheap original footage. The UFOs are either model kits, hubcaps, or plates on strings, and the first combat sequence where the military fires on the aliens uses real military stock footage of launchers and jets. Much like the chase scenes these are seriously hindered by the small sets.

Chase scenes are likewise hilarious, with actors running around the same set. This creates the unfortunate effect of making it look like everyone is running back and forth over the same twenty feet of graveyard, while scenes of Lugosi and the stand-in show obvious changes between outside locations and on-set shots. Gunshots are the old-school smoke-and-sparks, and getting hit by a gun apparently makes you develop a minor full-body twitch.

It feels like some of the actors are stage actors, some are film, and others aren't actors at all. Certain characters have a flourish to their movements and dialogue that screams Theatre! while others are competent, and even more don't seem to quite understand what they're doing at all. I'm fairly certain that at spots you can see the actors look down at a copy of the script when they forget their lines.

The entire plot of the movie hinges on classic bad Hollywood science, with the premise that a bomb could explode light particles (or atoms, as stated in the movie) and start a chain reaction that blows up the universe itself. There's an anti-war message in the movie, combined with an environmental message and speech about uniting to better ourselves. Each one is explained within a five minute monologue, just like all good movies.

The So Bad It's Bad
Some of the performances dip into bad, rather than funny bad. Vampira's performance as a zombie is lifeless, pun both intended and not intended. At certain points her facial expression looks more fitting to a bored funeral goer rather than a risen corpse.

There's a lot of filler between shots of the UFOs flying around, people walking, and other miscellaneous footage that doesn't contribute much. There's at least a minute-long scene where the same footage of a military general looking through binoculars is reused. While most of these are actually pretty amusing, it gets tiring at points. There are plenty of moments where the scene will change to a group of characters simply standing around before going back to the actual story.

The Rest
Plan 9 feels like the classic black and white b-movie that every other one in recent memory has been modeled off. With the cheap sets, stilted delivery, and brilliantly obtuse script it's got that perfect camp formula.

There was a remake released in February, 2015 which is sort of an homage/remake/mockery of the original. I haven't actually seen it, but it appears to be a remake with modern horror gore and parody elements. It might be worth checking out, but I don't know that it's necessary. It feels to me like the problem you get when a mega-fan takes over production of an IP and emphasizes their own vision for it. In all honesty I probably would have preferred just a straight shot-for-shot reshoot.

Should You Watch It?
Absolutely. I've seen The Room referred to as the Citizen Kane of bad movies, but that title is far more appropriate to Plan 9. It can fit in at any spot on a bad movie list, either as the first as an introduction or at the end as a grand finale. There's plenty here to entertain. I haven't gone as far in depth on this movie as I could have, because I truly think this is a movie everyone should see at least once.

You can watch the movie in full either on Youtube or Wikipedia.

Bad Movie Month #22: ThanksKilling

Everything on this cover is accurate.

ThanksKilling (2008)

Directed by: Jordan Downey
Produced by: Kevin Stewart, Jordan Downey
Written by: Brad Schulz, Tony Wilson, Grant Yaffee, Kevin Stewart, Jordan Downey
Budget: $3,500

Starring: Wanda Lust, Chuck Lamb, Ryan Francis, Aaron Carlson, General Bastard, Lance Prdmor, Natasha Cordova, Lindsey Anderson

We start with a shot of a woman's naked breast, which belongs to a topless pilgrim as she's chased and murdered by an evil turkey. The first line of the movie? "Nice tits, bitch."

A Cabin-in-the-Woods full of friends are looking forward to enjoying Thanksgiving break when they learn about an evil turkey given sinister life through Native American necromancy. This zombie turkey, named Turkie, appears every few centuries to murder every white person he sees.

Ultimately, ThanksKilling feels like an homage to b-movie slasher holiday movies, and is exactly as ridiculous as that would seem.

The Good
Primarily, the movie revels in its tropes, despite the fact that it's very formulaic. The story gleefully movies from one horror trope to the other but escalates everything a step or two. Characters at one point refer to each other by their archetypes, there's the standard camp fire story that turns out true, and each character has a perfect role to fill. The thing that stops this one from being derivative is that it never takes itself too seriously and will turn to the camera and wink when things are starting to get just a little too familiar. That duty generally comes up whenever Turkie is on screen.

The tropes it plays straight are played wonderfully straight. Turkie's weaknesses are listed in an ancient book the characters get from the library, there's a best-friend-died montage (complete with original song), and various other plot points found in the genre are slapped on screen one after the other. Highlight for spoilers: This is another horror comedy where there's a sex scene between the monster and a character, but yes, this time it's with a turkey.

The main characters are a collection of standard horror movie folks, and the actors all play into the roles perfectly, though I wouldn't necessarily call them quality performances. The nerd is properly sniveling, the main character appropriately jockish, and the rest each fulfill their roles admirably. The Old Ones can rest easy after watching this one.

I hope Turkie becomes a regular holiday villain. The one-liners he spouts are absurd, even when compared to the worst of the genre, and as a murderer he's a straightforward kind of guy. In many horror movies the script treats the villain with some sort of reverence, treating Jason or Freddy like the coolest guy ever. ThanksKilling takes that villain worship to the next level, with Turkie's apparent ability to make people forget that he's a turkey. At one point he shows up wearing a skin mask of a dead character's face, and none of the kids catch on at all.

The writing in the movie is probably best described as irreverent. The dialogue is filthy in the vein of the best b-list exploitation horror movies, with plenty of cursing and sex acts. The gore effects are practical and over the top, which is perfect for this movie.

The Bad
The budget and acting will probably be enough to turn a lot of people away, which is understandable, considering the movie feels like it was made for $3,500. At one point Billy hallucinates a roast turkey on the side of the road which looks like a literal piece of clip-art on the screen. The tipi is a bed sheet on a broom stick. The actual quality of the footage is really low.

Though it feels aware enough of the tropes of the genre, throughout I was wondering how much of it was actually intentional, because certain decisions felt like mistakes, including some aspects of the score. I'm willing to give the movie the benefit of the doubt, but I can imagine some wouldn't.

The Rest
ThanksKilling 3 was successfully kick-started, which I'm fine with.

This feels distinctly like a movie I would have made with my friends in high school or college.

Should You Watch It?
If you can deal with very low quality and effort, then this is definitely worth a try. At just over an hour long you don't lose much and with the right group of people I think it's a great addition to a holiday movie stable.

Bad Movie Month #21: The Adventures of Pluto Nash

Remember when Eddie Murphy was
a selling point?

The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)

Directed by: Ron Underwood
Produced by: Martin Bregman, Michael Scott Bregman, Louis A. Stroller
Written by: Neil Cuthbert
Budget: $100,000,000

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Randy Quaid, Rosario Dawson, Joe Pantoliano, Jay Mohr, Luis Guzman, James Rebhorn, Peter Boyle, Pam Grier, Burt Young, John Cleese

In the future when mankind has populated the moon, retired smuggler Pluto Nash (Murphy) leaves prison and buys a nightclub in an attempt to go straight. Things seem to be going well but soon turn chaotic when a mysterious figure dispatches some thugs to intimidate him into selling. Along with a new server at the club (Dawson) and his robot bodyguard (Quaid), Nash has to figure out who's trying to move in on his turf.

Weirdly enough, this is yet another movie where an actor plays two separate characters, but this time it's a clone.

The Adventures of Pluto Nash feels like a combination of an early Saturday Night Live sketch, the Tim Burton Batman movies, and an attempt to ape the style of The Fifth Element. Considering the movie was in production since the 80s and didn't see release until 2002, I have a feeling that all three at one point may have been true.

The Good
I'm a fan of genre blending, and Pluto Nash at least has a good concept behind it. The idea of telling a 40s-style noir film in a science fiction setting appeals to me and is at least an attempt at being creative. The movie is firmly in that goofy science fiction genre that was popular in the 90s, but some of the sci-fi ideas are at least executed well, including the turret handgun, magnetic pool table, references to space and resource scarcity on a moon base, etc.

The Bad
Throughout it feels like the movie suffered from some extensive rewrites or changes, which it almost certainly did over its nearly twenty year life. Certain scenes feel like they've been inserted specifically to .lighten the movie up, and not in a way that feels consistent with the rest of the movie. The scene where Murphy and Dawson go to the cosmetic surgeon reminded me of a very similar scene in the also-bad-90s-scifi movie Theodore Rex.

Though the movie was released in 2000, it sat in stasis for two years until release, at which point it would have already felt dated. The set design consists of crowded building fronts and neon signs when the characters are in the streets, and the costumes are still stuck in that era where everyone wore differently colored space blankets, except for the main characters of course.

Of course, if the characters are fun you can endure a dumb setting. Unfortunately none of the characters are particularly memorable or worth caring about. For bearing his name in the title, Pluto Nash is a pretty forgettable character, which is even weirder because it's Eddie Murphy. Of course, this is post-Norbit Murphy, so take that as you will. Rosario Dawson is also really bad in this movie, with stilted delivery and zero commitment. Randy Quaid seems like he's having fun playing an obsolete robot, and Luis Guzman shows up for a little bit to...be Guzman. John Cleese also has a little role as a car's AI, but it's obvious both from his delivery and character that he earned his paycheck in an afternoon in a recording studio.

The comic moments have a slightly improvisational feel to them, and not in a good way. Sometimes a movie can pull that off, like Ghostbusters, but the ones in Pluto Nash are both unfunny and too long, which is a deadly combination when it comes to an actor who was once the biggest superstar on the planet. Ultimately I'm not really surprised this nearly killed Murphy's acting career, when you take into account the awkward comedic scenes, badly done action, and certain lines that serve just to pull you out of the movie with how weird or awkward they are. That includes Cleese's rape joke.

Finally, the CGI and overall directing is really bad, and it doesn't help that the movie takes time to showcase certain effects shots. Any time a car has to drive or there's an exterior shot of the moonscape it just looks bad. At one point our heroes are on the surface of the moon and it's obviously a fifteen-foot set with a really bad greenscreen. Later on in the film Murphy has to fight a clone of himself, who is also played by Murphy, and the fight uses an obvious double and cuts to hide the really bad editing. As far as directing and editing goes, at one point I'm pretty sure you can see Murphy standing at his spot before the director yells "action" and he starts running.

The Rest
The funniest part of the movie was seeing that Trump Realty apparently financed the moon colony.

Should You Watch It?
No.

Pluto Nash is one of those movies with a reputation for being awful, and I certainly see why. However, it's awful in the way that many science fiction movies in the 90s were awful, with some clear effort put into certain aspects despite the fact that nothing quite comes together in a good way.