I Watch Films: Morons From Outer Space

 

Morons From Outer Space

Four aliens are bored in space. While one, Bernard (Mel Smith), plays spaceball outside, the other three Sandra, Desmond (Jimmy Nail) and Julian take the ship and crash on Earth. There the authorities act in paranoid and farcical style, unable to realise that the aliens are actually very stupid.

Everyone at GBNews* is in the pub other than junior office gopher Graham Sweetley (Gryff Rhys Jones) so he becomes reporter on the spot. He rescues the aliens from captivity and makes them stars, despite them being generally rubbish and boring.

The satire occasionally has a little bite, but the story itself gets so caught up in the individual scenes (sketches) that it fails to put together a plot or raise any tension. What if aliens came and they were just stupid and liked beer and soap opera and saccharine pop music? It would be good for a couple of jokes but then would just be a bit flat.

Watch This: Some fun 80s comedy with a few things to say
Don’t Watch This: You’ve heard what they have to say about the vapidity of celebrity culture, and what’s left after that, maybe a few fart jokes

 

* GBBC, here standing in as not-the-BBC