An excellent premise - aliens land, only they're dumb - and top rank talent - Mel Smithy, Griffin Rhys Jones, Mike Hodges - but it makes rookie errors. There's no distinct characters among the aliens - Mel Smith gets by being Mel Smith but the others are interchangable, nothing different. One was a girl, one was Jimmy Nail, one was the other guy... and that was it. I kept waiting for a romance, come conflict, being dumb in different ways... nothing.
There's no key relationship to hook into either - an Earth scientist falls for the girl, which has potential, but that's it. Smith and Rhys Jones have no scenes together until the very end - for most of the film Smith's off on his own (and actually this is the most effective bit as Smith is such a strong performer and it hassome emotional resonance).
I was a mistake too to make it so everyone knew about the aliens and they became a pop culture phenomeon. Stories like this work better when they're undiscovered.
Really the film should have been Smith crashing, discovering Rhys Jones and the two of them being buddies. And if you need it we cut away to people chasing them, and Smith trying to find his dumb friends, but his friends have more personality.
The effects and design are great but the film doesn't need it. It needed better characters and relationships.
James Sikking adds energy as a deranged American.
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