Scott_Mercer At the risk of sounding patronizing, I wanted to like this movie. I really did. I really appreciated the premise, and I was a longtime fan of Shandling. I was a faithful viewer of "It's Gary Shandling's Show", and less so of "The Larry Sanders Show" as I never had HBO.Something just did not work here. All the gags fell flat. Shandling was not in any way appealing in this role. You can see that since this movie, he hasn't exactly been lighting up the screen.Anette Benning is such a good actress that she did not embarrass herself in this film, and almost made lemonade out of lemons here. But not quite. Even an actor of her talents could not prevent the cinematic equivalent of The Hindenburg from going down and exploding.This was one of only two films I saw in a theater that I have ever walked out on before they were over. I stomached about 50% of this flick before I could stand no more and walked out. (The other film was Eddie Murphy's "Boomerang".) I had to stop for a burger on the way home just to cheer myself up. Avoid at all costs.

MichaelOates "What Planet Are You From" is one of the worst films I have seen in a long time. All the movies I have seen have either been good or bad. This is simply a disaster."What Planet Are You From?" has absolutely no story worth mentioning and was so stupid I nearly turned the VCR off. There is one thing that came out of this film that I like and that was the performances of Garry Shandling, John Goodman, Annette Bening and Greg Kinnear. However, it was not enough to save it from disaster. Based upon this I made the determination that this was an awful film as well as a waste of time. I'm glad I saw this it home because it was that kind of movie. DON"T WASTE YOUR TIME.

george.schmidt WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM? (2000) *** Garry Shandling, Annette Bening, John Goodman, Greg Kinnear, Ben Kingsley, Linda Fiorentino, Caroline Aaron, Nora Dunn, Camryn Manheim, Ann Cusack, Richard Jenkins, Janeane Garofalo (cameo). Garry Shandling, with his pinched expression suggesting comical disdain and quixotic confusion, makes his first starring bid as a film star (he has been on the silver screen prior to this ambitious effort in cameo roles here and there, but this is his first legitimate lead role) in the wildly funny sci-fi comedy that attempts to answer, really, are Women From Venus and Men From Mars? Shandling (who co- wrote the sharply funny screenplay with Michael Lesson, Ed Solomon & Peter Tolan), is the chosen cloned eunoch from a race of male aliens from a distant planet making final plans to invade Earth with his sole mission of achievement to get the wheels greased and running: to impregnate a woman.Seen in an assembled display of how to react to an Earth woman's conversations (the reliable and ubiquitous response of a barely interested: `uh-huh'), he clearly has his work cut out for him, particularly with the fact he has to have his sexual appendage attached for said close encounter (giving an all new meaning to `alien probing'). With a few words of wisdom by his leader Graydon (Kingsley) he is beamed aboard a commercial airliner and winds up in Seattle as the assumed identity of a Harold Anderson and walks into an unsuspecting bank as their awaited new accounts manager. Met by the smarmy Perry Gordon (Kinnear oozing oily malfeasance with canny glee), his soon-to-be rival, he quickly attempts to find his mate to be (only after several hilarious attempts from the airplane to his new job and the fact his member noisily vibrates whenever he's aroused).At an AA meeting (Perry explains it being one of the best pick-up spots in town for vulnerable women), he is taken by a recovering alcoholic named Susan Hart (the beguilingly sublimely funny Bening) and sets his phaser for stun.After hooking up with her in an unlikely situation and one date he explains to her in no uncertain terms that he wants to have a child. Susan, thinking finally a real man in touch with his emotional core, succumbs to his sweet yet eager charms and accepts his impromptu marriage proposal the next day. From there they honeymoon in Vegas with a marathon of sex (`126 times' he says matter-of-factly upon returning to work much to the amazement of Perry) figuring the seed has been planted and to just wait it out. What next comes is a series of truly unsettling changes in his being: namely emotions and finally realizing just what will become of his only child.Shandling - who has already become an icon with his pitch perfect accuracy of skewering the world of show business in the classic HBO series `The Larry Sanders Show' and his self-deprecating sexual hang-ups - scores big laughs as the alien with a heart (despite his overachieving goal of surpassing his horniness to save his race!), and makes this heavily trodded hybrid genre (heck go back to Robin Williams in `Mork & Mindy' or all the way back to Jerry Lewis as a misfit extraterrestrial in `Visit To A Small Planet') a welcome return. Getting his smart alecky alien to parallel the real off-balance of the sexes with men roles as being piggish louts who'd rather watch the game on the tube than actually talk to the women in their lives is one large step he attempts and neatly dispatches, as well as the well-timed deflations of pick-up lines he uses apparently circa 1965 with much hilarity ensuing.Bening proves to be a truly giften comic actress (hell her first big role in cinema was the John Candy/Dan Aykroyd romp `The Great Outdoors' and has shown up more recently in her acclaimed Oscar nominated turn in the pitch black comedy/drama, `American Beauty') and matches Shandling step by step as the confused 12 stepper attempting to find some footing in her second chance at some sort of life; she gives the film its soul.Goodman is in fine form as well as Roland Jones, the FAA agent who seems to be channeling Fox Mulder from `The X-Files' (hey one small quibble, why the HELL didn't Shandling even attempt to ask his good buddy David Duchovny, so furiously funny for his guest star shots on `Sanders', in a little piece of stunt casting??), who is hell bent to prove the alien exists when he's not busy trying to save his marriage to the suspicious Nadine (Aaron, a fine comic character actress best remembered as Woody Allen's sister in `Hannah And Her Sisters') who has many of the film's best lines: (after accusing Goodman of eyeballing a female co-worker: GOODMAN: `She's in a wheelchair, Nadine!' AARON: `Yeah, and don't think she doesn't play that for all it's worth!') Kinnear is proving to be a fine comic actor in his own right as the pompous skirt chasing Perry (although I found it unlikely since his spouse Helen is played by the incredibly hot Fiorentino - who also gets one of the film's best lines; after hearing Shandling's audible arousal : SHANDLING `It's my penis.it hums'. Beat. FIORENTINO: `Guess it doesn't know the words.') Directed by one of the living legends of comedy, Mike Nichols, the film ricochets with razor-gleaned timing, excellent performances and the ability of making a comedy that mines its laughs as well as aim for romantics in the long run: now that's an achievement!

willrams Just watched this stupid movie on TV and what a bummer! At First I thought it was hilarious, but after half an hour it started to poop. I just thought it was nuts, and the writers of this junk should have known better. No wonder Garry Shandler was in it. I never thought much of him as an actor or a comedian, but there are some situations that were creepy and some which are funny. Good actors Ben Kingsley, Greg Kinear, do their best, but it does not do any good with this stupid story. I got fed up and turned it off; better things to do with my time.