ofumalow The idea of spoofing 70s sci-fi TV shows is great, even if it's been done before. (And better, as in "Galaxy Quest.") This has all the right trappings in terms of sets, costumes and soundtrack track choices, as well as a game-enough cast. But where is the script? There are a few half-baked comic ideas here, but few if any of them are developed beyond the level of the verrrrrry mildly amusing, at best. There's less than a SNL skit's worth of actual laughs here. Worse, the characters are mostly irritating, with ideas that are potentially funny (Wilson's Captain being a closet case) and those that really aren't (two sets of bad, oblivious parents) both simply repeating themselves without building toward any big payoff. In fact, what they build toward is a weirdly serious scene at a Christmas party where everyone reveals how much they hate each other, something that might actually be cathartic in a movie that WASN'T aiming to be a comedy. I just don't know what the filmmakers were thinking. It's very strange to go to all this trouble and expense to mount a sci-fi fantasy satire, and seemingly forget to include much in the way of actual humor. No, the humor wasn't too "subtle" for me--deadpan is one thing, but this was just flat and lacking wit. A pity.

Ddey65 Believe it or not, this movie has a lot in common with the Beach Party Movies of the 1960's, in the sense that only certain people born in a specific era will get it. Fortunatley, having been born in the 1960's, I'm one of those people. The fact that it was co-written by many of the cast-members, most of them from the same generation probably has an affect on it's quality. Having said that, once I saw it it took some time for me to get into the movie. Contrary to what you may have read, this movie doesn't take place in the 1970's, but is instead a representation of the future that we thought would take place in the 1970's. It contains futuristic space travel with home appliances that pre-date the election of Ronald Reagan.Jessica Marlowe (Liv Tyler) is a Lieutenant who has just arrived on a refueling station in space named Omega 76. She has been assigned to co-pilot the station along with Captain Glenn Terry (Patrick Wilson), who seems a little too uncomfortable around the opposite sex. This is because he's not a male chauvinist, but a closeted homosexual who spends much of the movie trying to commit suicide rather than deal with a fling he had with one of his crew members. Among them are Ted (Matt Bowman) and Misty (Marisa Coughlan), who have a lonely little daughter named "Sunshine" (Kylie Rogers). Ted is a mechanic who has what is considered an old-fashioned mechanical hand and smokes a lot of pot, which at one point makes him see a naked woman floating outside of the window of the station who's face morphs into Lt. Marlowe. Misty is the nutritionist who spends most of her time getting Valium from a robot shrink named "Dr. Bot," who spends much of its time spouting psycho babble and random catch-phrases. Poor little Sunshine just wants a friend she can play with, whether it's a pet or another kid. She tries a pregnant gerbil, but the gerbil eats her babies. She tries to spend time with the baby of another couple, but they won't let her. Jennifer gives her a cryogenically frozen puppy, but her pill-popping mommy screws that up too.Then there's Steve (Jerry O'Connell) and Donna ("Liv and Maddie's" Kali Rocha). Steve is the ship sex fiend who would screw anything with two legs and a vagina. He's not only doing his wife (Lucky bastard!), but also Misty, and would take Jennifer to the bedroom if he had the chance. We can only hope that he won't be around when Sunshine finishes going through puberty. Donna is pretty, but is selfish and materialistic as she neglects her newborn baby, and at the same time keeps Sunshine from visiting her out of fear that she'll give the kid germs. The crew is all loaded with their own neuroses, and their own selfish interests... so much so that they don't even realize a meteor is heading towards the station. The same meteor that the captain's ex-lover could've prevented them from encountering.The soundtrack is primarily filled with the mellow hits of Todd Rundgren, but also has some late Neil Sedaka and leftover Spanky and Our Gang. It's typical of the existentialist sci-fi of movies like "Silent Running," the kind of sci-fi movies after "2001: A Space Odyssey" and before "Star Wars." It even has Keir Dullea as Jessica's dad. The movie is also an example of why many people wanted to get away from the 1970's. It was a decade that spent so much time trying to deal with it's feelings that it never dealt with real problems. In a sense, it's the reason movies ranging from "Star Wars" to "National Lampoon's Animal House" had to happen. It was a representation of a time when we were afraid to take action against real dangers because we were conditioned to believe the dangers only existed in our minds. Think of the Saturday Night Live skit where John Belushi played a mobster in group therapy, and you'll get the idea. It's the kind of mentality that kept us from defending ourselves and our friends against bullies on the school playground, building the highways that would've reduced our traffic jams, prevented us from facing the fact that we were right about the communist threat in Korea, Indochina, and elsewhere, and kept us from taking action against the People's Temple in Jonestown, and the jihadists in Iran when they took over the U.S. Embassy.

Joe G It's 2010 or so. Someone had an idea. Maybe they smoked a bunch of weed and decided to take a break from a Brady Bunch marathon, so they watched Spaceballs, Heavy Metal, and an episode of Mystery Science Theater?They wrote a script.A studio exec had some money to spend, and maybe out of revenge decided to spend it on this script? He hired the first director he could think of, which happened to be the bright but autistic nephew of a cousin.I take a moment to apologize to autistic folks. I know autism is more nuanced than the product this director produced. I know you can do better. I needed an example that easily conveyed emotional disconnect. I beg forgiveness. :/A decent casting person managed to assemble a talented cast who were willing to work for a song. Story boards were created. The sets were built. Special effects were assembled.The director, unable to process emotions like amusement, challenged by sarcasm and double entendre, did his best, but managed to only evoke passionlessness where he intended deadpan, over-long pauses where a sense of timing would have cued the next joke, and awkwardness (from the actors) where there could have been cluelessness (from the characters).The actors, baffled by the director, tried to respond to his suggestions, but eventually gave up, ambled through their cues, and flatly recited their lines.This movie was the end result.As a child of the 70's, I wanted to love this movie. I would have settled for liking it. Heck, I saw Laserblast as a first run movie in a theater. I didn't need much. The ocher wall art and the sunburst shag rug had me so. Damned. Close.Why did the robot have to be the most convincing human character in the film? Why did the best jokes land on the floor with tepid, sodden thuds? Why did I spend 45 minutes with this, holding on to the hope that it would find its groove?Someone dropped the ball here.

twilliams76 In this dark comedy that is blacker than the deepest depths of space, a group of denizens reside in a random floating space station (Station 76 to be exact) whose lives and well-being are put up for inspection by the audience as they struggle with everyday ordeals such as loneliness, infidelity, sexism, drug use, self loathing and loneliness (yes, the second mention was intentional).This low budget film does the most with its budget and it actually all looks quite acceptable as it is a spoof/comedic take on cheap, cheesy futuristic 70's science fiction films which allows for poor special effects and less-than believable interior shots of actual human- built ships/stations floating about in space. The station's interior décor is 1970s chic ... as are the characters' costumes and hair styles. The director (Jack Plotnick) has all of this down.Where he suffers is piecing together the story's narrative. His lack of direction is rather obvious as the toxicity of some of the laughs aren't as deadly as they should be. I chuckled throughout most of this movie but this comedy is actually more of a tragedy and while everything is played for laughs the somber, serious nature of each of the characters may persuade some to believe they are instead watching a bizarre drama as these characters are clearly all crying on the inside.When Jessica (Liv Tyler - Empire Records) newly arrives at Station 76 as a new mate, the men and women of the station aren't sure what to make of a woman wanting to "work". The station's captain (Patrick Wilson - Little Children) is unhappy with his new partner but also appears to harbor some resentment towards the one who just left whom Jessica is replacing. Matt Bomer (Magic Mike) plays the station's maintenance man whose wife (Marisa Coughlan - Pumpkin) has grown bored with both marriage and motherhood.Their lives unhappily float about in space ... and that is about it. Some will chuckle at their lives and misfortunes as presented and others simply won't get it; but we are laughing at tragic human internal suffering. It's black comedy ... and parts of it do work.The film clearly won't be for everyone. I enjoyed this for the most part but I know many others won't like it ... so I won't be going out of my way to recommend this to those I know.