Evolution

The spirit of the mega-hit Ghostbusters (1984) is intentionally recalled with this effects-heavy sci-fi comedy from the same director, Ivan Reitman, co-starring Dan Aykroyd and debuting on the 17th anniversary of the earlier film's release. When a meteor bearing single-celled organisms crashes to the Earth, the life forms are initially confined to a cave. Before long the creatures are evolving at an exponentially rapid rate, resulting in fearsome aliens running amok and possibly spelling mankind's doom, or at least the end of man's domination over life on Earth. Investigating the phenomenon is a community college professor, Ira Kane (David Duchovny), his geologist friend Harry Block (Orlando Jones), wannabe fireman Wayne Green (Seann William Scott), and government scientist Allison Reed (Julianne Moore).

If you're not familiar with David Duchovny's sense of comedic timing, then this is the perfect movie in which to acquaint yourself with it. Granted, some of his comedic abilities were displayed in the X-Files, but those were few and far between and only die-hard fans who watched every episode (guilty!) would have been privy to the latent talent for humor possessed by Duchovny. This movie gives Duchovny the opportunity to reveal the truth of his dry wit that we all knew was out there and wanted to believe in (sorry, I couldn't resist an X-Files reference), and even allows him to make a couple of ironic references to his past character of Fox Mulder in the face of a governmental conspiracy. Brilliant humor.

While Duchovny's performance is a pleasure, I must admit that the movie's steady humor is greatly contributed to by Orlando Jones and his interaction with Duchvony. Jones is exceptional in his singular moments, but the chemistry between Jones and Duchvony is reminiscent of some of the great comedy teams from the past. I would gladly see any movie that re-paired the two of them - without question. Additional humor is contributed by a surprisingly slapstick performance by Julianne Moore, some stellar moments by Seann William Scott, bureaucratic mastery by Dan Aykroyd and an array of contributions from supporting characters with portrayals by Ted Levine and Katharine Towne and including several actors that are a part of Professor Ira Kane's class.

I'm not saying this is a great movie, nor do I think everyone will find it particularly funny - I'm only saying that I truly enjoyed it and found it very entertaining (my opinion, only) and, in the right frame of mind, someone else might, as well.