Mars Attacks! (1996)

Directed by Tim Burton. Starring Jack Nicholson, Jim Brown, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Martin Short, Lukas Haas, Rod Steiger, Natalie Portman, Sylvia Sidney, Glenn Close, Michael J. Fox, Pam Grier, Lisa Marie, Paul Winfield, Danny DeVito, Tom Jones, Joe Don Baker, O-Lan Norris, Jack Black. [PG-13]

All-star, big-budget sci-fi spoof with hundreds of Martian flying saucers traveling to Earth to eradicate their interplanetary neighbors; Earth might have stood a chance if most of its inhabitants weren’t so spectacularly stupid (thank goodness for Slim Whitman, then). Burton and company are clearly having a good time, giving its huge cast opportunities to land a one-liner or two and then step aside—they don’t inhabit characters so much as stereotypes that should be recognizable to anyone who loves drive-in fodder and/or VHS cheese. It’s flaky and inconsistently paced, but also bright, bizarre, silly, and imaginative, with its cartoonishly retro special effects being a real treat, and the production expertly riding that treacherous line between affectionate and mean-spirited when it comes to its carnival of cardboard; besides, a double dose of buffoonery from wily Nicholson in a dual role (the US president and a sleazoid casino boss) shouldn’t be scoffed at. The script, by Jonathan Gems and an uncredited Burton, is inspired by a Topps trading card series from the 1960s, but probably even more so by the alien invasion hysteria pictures from the 1950s (to say nothing for its “accidental” send-up of the blockbuster Independence Day, which opened a mere five months before this one). Sidney’s final film; also the last time Fox would appear in the flesh in a feature film that wasn’t merely a cameo.

75/100