A Hitchhiker's Guide to Crap
A few guys at work have raved about the book in the past, so when the time came to figure out what to do last night with some friends, I suggested checking the movie out. (We also refused to go to the expensive theaters, so our options were pretty limited in the first place.) Here then, are my random (and I mean very random) thoughts on this film...
I can't say the movie was flat-out bad. There were lots of fantastical images and the dialogue was occasionally interesting. Heck, I even laughed out loud a number of times.
The biggest problem I had was that the story was both pointless and hard to follow at the same time. If you have one or the other, I think a movie can still (perhaps) succeed, but when you have both of those factors combined, once the credits finally start to roll, all you're left with is a feeling of emptiness, as though you just filled a void of time in your life with absolutely nothing.
The one thing that could have also perhaps saved the film was its humor, but it honestly just wasn't that funny. I don't think it helped that they tried so hard to be provocative and wondrous at the same time. This always left you expecting something deep in the midst of all the "laughter," but to no avail.
Looking into the popularity of the book a bit more, it appears there's such a cult following in Britain that the BBC actually has a "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxies" series. Poor Brits!
I also read somewhere that the movie ending is different from the book. On Monday, I'll ask the guys at work what's up with the book's freakish popularity, see if they saw the movie, and ask about the alternate ending. Perhaps that'll bring some further insight into an otherwise mindless and boring story. I'm pretty skeptical though...
posted by Chris @ 1:38 PM
4 Comments:
I was kind of anxious for this movie, but after reading some reviews, I've decided against it. I'm thinking this might be some sort of "fanboy" thing I won't get.
Yeah, I was honestly kind of intrigued by the trailers.
The movie is another story.
I wouldn't completely lose hope in the book. One of the guys at work who has read the book (and all of the sequels to it) also saw the movie this weekend and completely agreed with me that it was crap. He said that they completely changed the story, even taking using material from later books in the series and mixing it all together. He was extremely disappointed with the film and he hopes that people won't judge the books by the movie.
The other die-hard fan of the books wasn't at work today.
BTW, it turns out that the events of the ending used in the movie actually doesn't take place until book three in the series.
For some reason, I didn't mind "Master and Commander." Not to say it was a great film, but I think I enjoyed it because I expected a lot of ship battles and stupid dialogue, but it was more or less character studies and a somewhat interesting look into actually running a war ship.
Again, maybe it was bad. But sometime you get in those moods where just about any movie seems alright. "Jeepers Creepers 2" seemed pretty entertaining to me as well, and I know this was all based on mood.
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