There's a few chuckles in this sci-fi comedy about earth's first alien visitors being essentially a bunch of uneducated space truckers. Mel Smith co-wrote and stars in the film and somehow managed to snag respected British director Mike Hodges to helm the film. The picture was also shot by ace cinematographer Phil Meheux, who's done everything from multiple James Bond pictures to "The Smurfs" to "The Long Good Friday". However, the concept likely would have worked better as a short film or SNL skit than a feature length film and the plot drags on far too long. Worth a look, but nothing special.

In some ways, Morons From outer Space can be seen as being way ahead of its time, an uncannily prophetic attack on the celebrity culture that has become so prevalent today, where unexceptional members of the public are catapulted to superstar status by the media; this doesn't change the fact that the film is utter garbage, the film's primary gag—that not all alien life-forms are intelligent—stretched incredibly thin over an hour and a half.Unlike their fellow Not The Nine O'Clock News comedian, rubber-faced Rowan Atkinson, tubby Mel Smith and dour Griff Rhys Jones completely fail to make their particular brand of humour work on the big screen, the result being a disaster of galactic proportions. The problems with the film are numerous—poor choice of director, lame spoofery of other movies, Jimmy Nail—but perhaps the biggest mistake of all is that Smith and Jones, who worked so well together on the telly, remain separated for most of the running time, their unique chemistry sorely lacking.

Is this flick an incredibly sharp look into one of the great truisms of man? Visits to Wikipedia and IMDb provide useful reminders that, although smart people keep advancing the accomplishments of science and technology, most people are no smarter than most people were a thousand years ago. In a few years you will be able to contact & communicate with your friends simply by scratching your butt. You shall be able to travel to Topeka, Kansas, in two minutes with out even having to get out of bed. Mankind will have colonies throughout outer space. But they won't be just populated with today's astronauts. The bulk of earth's population--stupid people--will not all be left in LA & NYC. No, there shall continue to be stupid people everywhere that there are intelligent people, and that'll include extraterrestriality.However making a straightforward point of that in a science fiction film was too simple for EMI to bother with. Oh no, they decided to go one better and really drive their point home by using only stupid people to write and direct their flick. I suspect they also were trying to drum up a little sympathy for Britains from us charitable Americans, "Wow, Britains have to settle for so-called 'comedies' like this which are not funny? OK, I won't complain about Congress sending them more financial aid." How can someone not like a movie which tries to poke fun at aliens by mocking crappy pop singers & Belgian drivers? Did you miss the first vomiting gag? Don't be glum. They puke throughout this flick. I did find this DVD interesting for the further little insights into British culture that I picked up from watching it. I figure that's worth an additional two stars. And, although only several lines were actually funny, I did laugh AT this film a lot; I was laughing at the failure of the lines & situations to be funny that were obviously MEANT to be but, yes, I was laughing, so I figure that's worth a couple stars (if you laugh at people falling down stairs, as I do). And for those of you who bought the DVD and need a reason to ever watch it again, it featured a view of a man's naked penis. Look to see if you can spot it. That's worth a fifth star in a PG-flick.

This movie takes aim at both Hollywood and its alien flicks and more importantly, British cinema's unfortunate marketing subordination to same. The special effects, cast, acting and production values are excellent proving that big budget Hollywood can at least be replicated in a lampoon genre. Contrary to nearly every paid critic's review, it is well written. No American or British icon escapes unscathed. The US critics really killed it and frankly, I don't know what Hodges did to deserve that kind of undeserved malice. It's akin to the politically correct fallout from "A Fish Called Wanda". Feel free to go there if you will. It's one of those small British films that people who enjoy silly and dark humor; satire and understatement; and simply well-made, good looking spoofs--this is one of those. It is dead on-target. Enjoy the payback from a great unassuming film that Hollywood made sure was dead on arrival: they were right in the sense that it was and remains "dead on".