The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 238 Days to go: 243
Movie #139: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Al Gore may have invented the Internet, but for the billions of nerdy guy fans of this book by Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy breathed life into it. How many Internet things are named for stuff in the Guide, I have no idea.
I know Babelfish was one of the first/best language translators on the web — a perfect use of the moniker first mentioned in the Guide as an alien fish who feeds on brain waves which, when placed in your ear, translates any language into one you can understand.
I also know Trillian is a global instant messaging service, because I used to use it before I only ever needed to chat with people on Facebook or Gmail, but I’m not sure that service correlates to the character Trillian from the book all that well.
And I know that countless online usernames have been lifted directly from the Guide, but I actually didn’t know that at all until I first read the book something like just over nine years ago, just before the movie came out. Hell, I didn’t even know the book existed until less than twenty years ago, and it was already a phenomenon millions of times over by then.
It was just after the split from my first husband, and I was in a fairly toxic rebound relationship that I’m still, truth be told, somewhat upset about (not like, it still weighs on my mind, but if I do happen to think of it, my whole body cringes with “UGH” and I can’t keep from rolling my eyes in disgust). Things weren’t all bad, though. After all, it was because of him I vowed to only ever date tall guys from that point forward, plus he introduced me to the books of Tom Robbins, which I unapologetically adore. I also read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy because he loved it so much (not the first one of my exes to love it, but there was a movie coming out, so), and finally I understood like 85% more of the Internet’s references and inside jokes. Plus it meant I could follow along fairly well with the movie.
The movie, I find, plays better with people who are either unfamiliar with or somewhat ambivalent about the book than it does for people who are crazy in love with it. That’s understandable, because nobody likes having their nostalgia tampered with. However, I think the movie is easier to understand if you’ve at least read the book before, so that creates sort of a demographic Venn diagram nightmare. Oddly enough, though, myself and my future (now current) husband both managed to fall into the center sweet spot, and we both like the movie quite a bit. This DVD is his copy, in fact.
Personally I find Arthur Dent kind of annoyingly nebbish, but Martin Freeman plays him exceedingly well (it’s almost a precursor to his early Lester Nygaard on FX’s Fargo). On the other hand, Trillian (Zooey Deschanel) is bold and interesting, even if her “Let’s go to Madagascar” nonsense does scream MPDG. And Mos Def is someone I would never think of offhand as an actor, and yet he’s a really fascinating actor. His portrayal of Ford is perfectly goofy yet chill. Sam Rockwell, however, is on the complete opposite end of that spectrum as wild and crazy Zaphod Beeblebrox, doing exactly the kind of thing Sam Rockwell should do in every movie, always, because he is a national treasure and a rare gem. Meanwhile, if you don’t instantly fall in love with Alan Rickman as depressed robot Marvin, then you and I are probably not friendship material.
The special effects and graphics are unique and satisfying, the story is adequately condensed without losing any of its trajectory or emotional weight, and the film is really, really light and airy and fun, just as it should be. Honestly, I can’t complain about it at all.
I’m just not that kind of Internet person, I guess. (Don’t panic. It takes all kinds.)
Viable Option 