Web posted on:
Monday, February 15, 1999 3:04:20 PM EST

By Reviewer Paul Tatara

(CNN) -- I wasn't even a little bit interested in "My Favorite Martian" when it was on TV during my idyllic childhood, and I'm even less interested in seeing a computer-goosed version of it on the big screen now that I'm a disturbed adult.

But my editor asked me to review the new version, so I bought a ticket, stocked up on eats, and took the dive. And -- big surprise here -- it's proudly no good. So now I have to write a couple of pages about something that's not only wholly uninteresting to me, but purposefully stupid, too.

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Theatrical preview for "My Favorite Martian"
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I think people get mad at me when I cover certain types of pictures because I refuse to apply the widely accepted equalizer "for what it is" when I'm judging these things. You know what I'm talking about. I'm supposed to sit there and watch Hollywood's 5 millionth fish-out-of-water comedy, this one about a man who sports antennas and a talking space suit (a space suit that likes to listen to James Brown, no less). Then I'm supposed to swallow my pride and say that it's really sort of good "for what it is."

Well, if that's what you want, you've got it: "My Favorite Martian" is really sort of good, for what it is. And what it is is a bad movie. Thank God they had the good sense to sprinkle Elizabeth Hurley over it.

Jeff Daniels (a talented comedic actor who lives in Michigan instead of putting up with Los Angeles, and repeatedly gets rewarded for it with this kind of role) plays Tim O'Hara, a floundering reporter for a TV news show who has a crush on the boss' daughter, a gorgeous brat of a reporter named Brace (that would be Hurley).

Brace's pushy father (Michael Lerner) runs the newsroom, and really, really hates that bumbling Tim. (It's never explained, by the way, why the American boss's daughter has an upper-crust British accent, or, for that matter, how Michael Lerner could have possibly sired Elizabeth Hurley).

One night, Tim happens upon a crashed flying saucer and its occupant, a wacky-though-brilliant Martian played by Christopher Lloyd (he of the furrowed brow and bulging eyeballs). Tim realizes that a little documentary about the Martian will put him back in the boss' good graces, but he quickly comes to care too much about the lovable space man to fork him over to the authorities.

Then everything turns into an effects-laced cross between "Three's Company" and "Bewitched," as Tim tries to conceal the alien from Brace (who knows he's out there somewhere, although not in Tim's house) and the station's shy camera girl, Lizzie (Daryl Hannah). Lizzie doesn't know squat about a Martian, but she thinks Tim is cute and wants to get romantic with him. Boy-oh-boy, Tim's life is just spinning out of control!

Oh -- the talking space suit. His name is Zoot. ("Zoot Suit." Get it? Get it?) Why, you might be asking yourself, is there a talking space suit in this movie? Because newfangled computer graphics have made it possible, that's why. It's not funny or even particularly dazzling, but they can do it now, so they do.

It really doesn't make much of a difference in the long run, anyway. After a couple of early scenes, the suit mostly gets relegated to a washing machine, where it acts like it's having a wild party while it twists and shimmies in the suds. Zoot drinks glasses of fabric softener instead of cocktails when he's having a good time. That's a pretty good joke for what it is. If you think about it.

Of course, if aliens crash on Earth, you have to have a shady government agent who tries to capture them and do whatever it is that they do to aliens after they've locked them up in a hangar out in New Mexico. Ray Walston, who played the original Martian back in the '60s, is the agent this time around, with professional gargoyle Wallace Shawn playing his sniveling scientist sidekick. The whole thing's about as surprising as a box of rocks.

On the bright side, director Donald Petrie keeps it moving at a steady clip and the actors tend to look honestly shocked when the effects people do stuff like make the Martian's head pop off and roll across the floor. Hurley, just as she did in "Austin Powers," seems like a very good sport, but I guess that's easy to manage when everybody in the room falls right back into worship mode two seconds after you've finished making a fool of yourself.

Your kids might like "My Favorite Martian," mostly because (let's face it) your kids might like pretty much anything. And, regardless of all the time and money spent on the ever-popular morphing moments, you can bet that the producers are counting on that.

There's some biologically based humor in "My Favorite Martian," a little violence, and some rude language. Very small kids might be frightened when Lloyd's arms, legs and head fall off, although by the time it happens they may feel that they're watching the movie through a Novocain haze. Rated PG. 93 minutes. The only time I laughed was when Lloyd drank the contents of a lava lamp, but now I'm ashamed.