Post by StevePulaski on Aug 13, 2015 18:22:13 GMT -5
Coneheads (1993)
Directed by: Steve Barron
Rating: ★★
Directed by: Steve Barron
Rating: ★★
There's a meaningful message buried inside the narrative of Steve Barron's Coneheads, the feature-length adaptation of the long-running Saturday Night Live skit from the 1990's, however, due to pervasive comic vignettes that look to exhaust the inane possibilities of the titular creatures, it's almost entirely lost. The obvious thematic significance this film could hold is one that looks at America's idea of illegal immigration and the immediate ostracizing, and even criminalization, take place by people when they see foreigners, but with a film like Coneheads, there's barely anything else on the mind (or large, distended cranium in this case) then to get to the next sight-gag or joke as soon as possible.
This is precisely the kind of film that was meant to take up, at most, ten minutes out of Saturday Night Live's sixty minute timeslot rather than wheeze and exhaust itself past feature-film length. The story concerns a UFO that crashlands into an ocean on Earth, housing occupants Beldar and his lifemate Prymaat (Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin), two aliens with conical skulls. Beldar immediately starts work as a repairman and, upon his boss discovering his illegal alien status, is given a fake identity and Social Security Number to pass off as a citizen.
Not long after their arrival, Beldar and Prymaat have a daughter named Connie (Michelle Burke), and try their best to live their lives without being a burden to others. Despite some weird lingo, explicitly detailed statements about their actions present and very-near-future, and their obnoxious and plentiful eating patterns, they are more or less normal human beings. However, to immigration agents Gorman Seedling and Eli (Michael McKean and David Spade) they are vermin who need be deported back to their home planet. Beldar and his family try to elude the immigration service whilst dealing with the "Americanization" of their values.
One of these "Americanizing" instances comes at breakfast one morning when Beldar realizes his daughter has a temporary tattoo on his skull, in addition to layers of makeup and lipstick. Disgusted, he orders his daughter to change, for she looks like their planet's version of a prostitute (the quirky name slips my mind, but I'm confident I'll get an email from a Conehead enthusiast informing me of the name and my review's failure). This scene works because it adheres to the principles of what this film ultimately should've been; a decidedly quirky parable about immigration and the subsequent "Americanization" of one's values and heritage.
However, the quartet of writers here, including Aykroyd himself, don't do anything they couldn't do late at night on a Saturday. Even other Saturday Night Live alumni fail to shine, such as Chris Farley, who is given a disappointingly tame role, and Adam Sandler, who, I really must say, I wouldn't have minded seeing more of in this film. The depressingly tame and repetitive nature of Coneheads grows maddening after a while, and what we're left with is an empty shell of a film that doesn't live up to thematic potential and just kind of flounders when it should be flooring its audience.
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Michelle Burke, Michael McKean, David Spade, Chris Farley, and Adam Sandler. Directed by: Steve Barron.