When I found out Nichols directed at the end credits my jaw dropped, this easily surpasses Graduate and Virgina by far! This was fun, educational and surprisingly touching. The line by Linda cracked me up the most: why is he humming, oh he doesn't know the words...hilarious!I cannot fathom how I have never heard of this film from almost 15 years ago. No cultural references, no quotes, nada. Beats me, but glad I found it because I was in dire need of levity with panache after dying from exposure from watching all the grueling death, destruction and Armageddon fare of late.High recommend for Shandling (writes/acts in this) fans, wow is he Orange! Sure wish Linda could calm down enough for more film roles, she is absolutely stunning.

I can't say I hated this film. In fact, in a lot of areas, it was pretty good. You have Garry Shandling, who is a veteran comedian who does a pretty good job playing a likable guy in this movie, and he plays very well off of Annette Benning. However, there were too many weaknesses in this movie to recommend.For one, the plot of the film almost fit better into a late night Cinemax (or Skin-a-max) movie. In fact, late one night when I had nothing to do, I actually caught a movie where two women in bikinis were sent down to Earth for the sole purpose of having sex with humans. So to see middle-aged, A-listers tackle this kind of flimsy plot gives the movie a bit more strength, but fails in a lot of areas to actually be the kind of laugh-out-loud movie that "The 40 Year Old Virgin" was, for example.Of course, "The 40 Year Old Virgin" came out five years after this movie did, but it was a bigger hit (and was far less forgettable) because it was smart and had a surprising amount of heart to it. The laughter in that movie came out of compassion for the main character, who was put into many realistic scenarios. Making a funny movie about an alien whose primary mission is to fornicate takes away any kind of heart the movie could have, and no laughter based on familiarity follows. For further proof, compare the scenes in both movies where the main character displays his cluelessness about condoms. The one from "The 40 Year Old Virgin" is much funnier.Needless to say, realistic scenarios also went right out the window. I just saw this movie and thought, "There is no way people would actually react that way". For instance, no one in the movie thought it was as weird as they should have for the Shandling and Benning characters to get married after just one date. Plus, the baby they ended up having was born in only three months (I think), and the doctors in the movie just mentioned that fact so matter-of-factly, as if these things happen all the time. It would seem to me that in real life, more doctors would be brought in from all over the world to witness this medical miracle, not to mention the baby would be subject to various medical examinations.Of course, the "artifical" penis that hums served as the running gag of the movie, although it really wasn't all that funny to begin with. But with it came so many plot holes. Among them, Shandling character was able to copulate infinitely, yet it didn't seem like he himself had any sort of orgasm. I'm going to leave the plot holes at that. If you see the movie, you'll know what I mean.But there were some strengths in this movie. For instance, Greg Kinnear played a really shallow S.O.B., and he played it so well. John Goodman really can't go wrong in a movie, especially as a P.I. Ben Kingsley was also good as the planetary leader who ultimately becomes the villain. Kingsley added a nice dramatic touch. Benning proved that she can do comedy just as well as drama, and she was overall great in this movie. And Linda Fiorentino was just sexy beyond belief. She can play a great seductress.So is this movie forgettable? Not really. There are some moments of brilliance, but the story could have been better and could have used some more realistic elements regarding human reactions. Coming from veteran director Mike Nichols, this movie almost seemed a bit lazy compared to "The Graduate" and "The Birdcage".

I've loved this movie from the first time I saw it. Maybe I'm just a Garry Shandling fan, but I laughed my ASS off in the theater. So I had to buy it. So just the other day (Jan 15th/05) I had quite a few people over, kind of like a final end to the party. It was getting really late. So we started watching it, and we were all laughing non stop, everyone was like where did you get this movie from. None of them have ever even heard of it. So now they all want to get their own copy.It's a great movie from beginning to start. Any man would wish they had that kind of attitude with women, and would actually work with most of them.

I watched this film at a friends house after being told it was 'hilarious!' We had a straight choice between this and 'XXX,' and there has never been a more stupid mistake in the history of mankind! Ive never been so glad I had to go home in all my life! I never saw the end of the film, and I never want to, it is without a doubt the most godawful piece of film making Ive ever seen. Some films are bad due to bad acting, bad storylines, bad script, bad casting, this one had the lot! I havent seen Annette Bening in anything since, I imagine she was booted out of Hollywood permanently after this debacle! (Not that Im picking on her, she's usually a very good actress.)Any film with X-Rated sex content, and humour for the under 5s has an obvious problem!