The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (6/10)

by Tony Medley

A long time in coming, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (HGC) first saw life on BBC Radio 4 in 1978 as a part sci-fi space odyssey, part satirical comedy, and part inquiry into the nature of life by Douglas N Adams, who had studied English literature at Cambridge, and was a comedy writer who had worked with Monty Pythonist Graham Chapman. So successful, he turned it into a book that became sort of a cult classic in the late ‘70s early ‘80s. Maybe it’s not a cult because the publisher claims sales of more than 16 million in the last quarter century. Now, courtesy of Disney, Director Garth Jennings and screenwriters Adams (who died of a heart attack in 1998 shortly after completing the second draft of a screenplay) and Karey Kirkpatrick, who was brought in after his demise to make Adams’ script more acceptable, it sees the light of day as a film.

Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), whose house is about to be torn down to build a freeway, is spirited away on a spaceship seconds before the destruction of the earth. Clothed only in his robe and slippers, this starts him on a quest with his alien friend Ford Perfect (Mos Def) and the girl he desires, Trillian (Zooey Deschanel) to find the meaning of life. From what I remember of the book, and I didn’t read much, I don’t recall a romance. Regardless, it diminishes the movie because it’s so silly.

The movie is a devastating satire on bureaucratic idiocies, epitomized in the bad guys, the Vogons, who are described as “bureaucrats of the universe, armed with awful poetry.” They are hateful and ugly.

The peripatetic quest takes him from one corner of the universe to the other, all satirical and with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Accompanying them is Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell), the two headed Galactic President. Among those filling out the rest of the cast are Jim Henson’s puppets, who present Star Wars type creatures too horrible to describe.

One of the puppets who is well translated from the book is Marvin the Paranoid Android, built by Sirius Cybernetics Corporation. He is always miserable and looking to make the worst of any situation. Without a mouth, he always looks miserable because he always ducks his head and has a negative throw-away line about all the things that occur.

I must admit I wasn’t a fan of Adams’ book. I heard about it, got it, started it, and couldn’t finish it. But I can see that if you did like the book you should love the movie because it’s imaginatively produced.

This is a light hearted journey though the universe with lots of jokes. I didn’t think the satire was that clever, but others might disagree with me. I’m hedging on this review because even though I wasn’t enthused about it, I can see how others could love it. It’s on the cusp. I thought the script was disjointed and didn’t make much sense. But that’s probably what they were shooting for. It is nonsense, but it’s aiming for a goal about the meaning of life. And to make their point, they couldn’t have been logical. Even though I wasn’t thrilled with it, it could be a hit.

April 26, 2005

top