I hadn't seen Mars Attacks for some time until I picked up a DVD from a supermarket bargain bin recently.
On rewatching the film it still seemed as funny to me as I remembered it. It works at several levels. As a homage to the clunky "B" movies from the 50s. As a parody of the more recent Sci-Fi extravaganzas with granite-jawed, wisecracking all-American but politically-correct heroes saving the Earth (yet again) and as a satire of modern American culture/politics/media. It is also a black farce (rather than just a black comedy) with really nice bad taste.
The actors all seem to be hamming it up to perfection. The Martians are the antithesis of the wimpy Star Wars alien types.
It seems that many Americans are uncomfortable with the film but that non-American audiences like it, which may offer an interesting insight into national psyches. The several comments that it is somehow a "mean-spirited" movie seem to indicate some shock at any assault on apple-pie morality - which is after all not a common occurrence in American comedies.
9/10
On rewatching the film it still seemed as funny to me as I remembered it. It works at several levels. As a homage to the clunky "B" movies from the 50s. As a parody of the more recent Sci-Fi extravaganzas with granite-jawed, wisecracking all-American but politically-correct heroes saving the Earth (yet again) and as a satire of modern American culture/politics/media. It is also a black farce (rather than just a black comedy) with really nice bad taste.
The actors all seem to be hamming it up to perfection. The Martians are the antithesis of the wimpy Star Wars alien types.
It seems that many Americans are uncomfortable with the film but that non-American audiences like it, which may offer an interesting insight into national psyches. The several comments that it is somehow a "mean-spirited" movie seem to indicate some shock at any assault on apple-pie morality - which is after all not a common occurrence in American comedies.
9/10