Mostly Harmless

Admittedly, Filmbrain walked into the Disney-fied version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with some prejudices. As a fan of the novels, as well as both the radio and television series, he felt there was little chance that a mega-budget production would capture the essence of what makes Douglas Adams' writing so special. The good news is that this loud, sprawling mess of a film is nowhere near as bad as he imagined, but it unfortunately only offers glimpses into the brilliance of the original material. The bad news is that for all its moments of irreverence, it still follows the contemporary Hollywood model, with too much of the film playing to the lowest common denominator. The casting is truly inspired, and Martin Freeman (The Office), Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel and Sam Rockwell make up a wonderful quartet. It's just a shame that the material they are given to work with (especially when it veers from the source) is rather lifeless. While Freeman is the ideal embodiment of everyman Arthur Dent, Mos Def's Ford Prefect has been stripped of nearly all the character's acerbic humor and wit, and he serves as little more than a device to move the plot along. An even greater disappointment is Alan Rickman, who is unable to breathe life into his role as the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android. For some reason, it just doesn't work. The two best performances are from Stephen Fry -- whose wry tone is perfect as the voice of the Guide, and Sam Rockwell, whose approach to narcissistic, half-witted President of the Galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox is strangely similar to a certain Texan residing in the White House. (Actually, it comes off more like an impersonation of Will Ferrell's impersonation of GWB.) After an unexpected grand musical opening (the mock Broadway-esque So Long and Thanks For All the Fish), the story begins much as the novel did, with one exception -- from early on the film plays up Trillian as a love interest for Arthur, and this is what ultimately drags the film down. Instead of being the hapless space/time traveler, Arthur has been turned into a typical broken-hearted RomCom character. Changes such as this (and there are many), will no doubt give the film a broader appeal (read: greater return on the studio's investment), but the end result is a comedy that just isn't very funny. Sure, it's a bit of lighthearted fun, and if you're in that sort of mood you can probably do a lot worse, but it doesn't change the fact that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a film that even a hoopy frood would be hard pressed to love.