"We better get out of here before one of those things kills Guy!"

I saw Galaxy Quest back in the theater at the end of last year. After watching all these intense (and long) Oscar season movies like Ripley and The Green Mile, Galaxy Quest was a welcome break. It's an extremely smart script that had me laughing from beginning to end. 

The central conceit: the washed up cast of a Star Trek-esque show is contacted by aliens, who think the episodes of the show are "historical documents." The aliens want the cast to help them battle an Evil Alien Overlord, and before the cast figures out that the whole thing is for real, it's too late to turn back. 

As you can probably guess from the credits (Sigourney Weaver, Tim Allen, Alan Rickman) the lead actors are spectacular. And the other supporting players are uniformly wonderful.. bravo to the casting director. And this is part of the key to this movie's success. 

For instance, Sigourney Weaver has one line that looks average on the page. The line is, "I have one job on this show. It's stupid, but I'm doing it." See what I mean? Average. The thing is, she absolutely SELLS that line. When it comes out of her mouth, it's the funniest thing you've ever heard. And the whole movie is like that. Practically every member of the cast has at least one great moment that you can chalk up to consummate acting skills. 

The script is subtle, clever and even touching at times. Above all, though, it's great entertainment. I guess being a Trek nerd helped me to appreciate it even more, but I think anyone would at least get their money's worth.