Evolution (PG-13)

A number of critics have been eager to pan Ivan Reitman's effects-laden alien comedy as a blatant rip-off of his very own Ghostbusters. They have a point. While there's nothing here that Reitman hadn't done before and to better effect in that ghoul-filled 1984 sci-fi comedy classic, this alien comedy is able to compensate for lack of originality through easy-going charm--which comes mostly from the actors. Granted, no one here is challenging themselves. David Duchovny contradicts his oft-repeated desire to break free from Fox Mulder by treading water as Dr. Ira Kane, a community college science professor, who discovers extraterrestrial life at a meteor crash site. Orlando "Make 7, Up yours" Jones doesn't tax himself as Ira's wisecracking colleague Harry Block, a geology teacher. Seann William Scott is on hand to do his familiar "young dumb guy" schtick (here, aspiring fireman Wayne, who witnesses the meteor crash). And, as the trailer pointedly notes,"Academy Award nominee" Julianne Moore trips and falls numerous times as Allison, a rep for the Center for Disease Control.

That latter casting coup begs the question--why the hell would someone as classy as Moore agree to star in a derivative, light-as-a-feather summer comedy?

Evolution easily offers a convincing answer: to simply have fun. While there are only a handful of real laugh out loud moments, the film often elicits warm smiles, coasting by on the good will and high spirits of everyone involved. If that sounds like praise of the faint sort, it is; but such pleasant and amusing entertainments are hard to come by these days.

Reprinted from the Mr. Brown website http://shagpro.com/mrbrown/