Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie

 ((Spoof -- Color))

By TODD MCCARTHY

Directed by Jim Mallon. Screenplay, Michael J. Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, Mallon, Kevin Murphy, Mary Jo Pehl, Paul Chaplin, Bridget Jones, based on "Mystery Science Theater 3000," created by Joel Hodgson.
 
Mike Nelson ... Michael J. Nelson Dr. Clayton Forrester ... Trace Beaulieu Tom Servo ... Kevin Murphy Gypsy ... Jim Mallon Crow T. Robot ... Trace Beaulieu Benkitnorf ... John Brady Just like the cable TV series that spawned it, "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie" is cheap, silly fun, a barrage of one-liners aimed at a risible old picture by one human and two robots who constitute an onscreen audience. Pic has a built-in constituency among fans of the 8-year-old show, and Gramercy is wisely taking this undoubted no-budgeter out in gingerly fashion to gauge if there really is a paying public for something that is virtually no different from what can be seen on the tube for free. Infectiously funny while it's unspooling but instantly forgettable, goofy item will play best to teenagers in an altered state and looks unlikely to go beyond cult status, which should be enough.
 

Filmmakers take a shotgun approach to comedy, inundating the viewer with wisecracks that, more often than not, don't go over. But those that do still add up to lotsa laughs, and the sheer weight of them eventually builds an atmosphere of mild lunacy that it's useless to resist. Not only that, it's all over in a breathtaking 73 minutes, making "MST 3000: the Movie" shorter by 13 minutes than the pic it's making fun of.

"Mystery Science Theater 3000" was born in Minneapolis in 1988, ran for 22 shows there and the following year was picked up by HBO's Comedy Channel, which later merged with Viacom's Ha! into Comedy Central. Its staple has always been bad low-budget 1950s sci-fi epics, but for the group's first feature, the creators actually picked a moderately revered and amply budgeted one, Universal's 1955 release "This Island Earth," about an Earth scientist (Rex Reason) and a lady friend (Faith Domergue) who are kidnapped to a distant planet in an unsuccessful attempt to save it from destruction.

The "Mystery Science" framework remains the same, with mad scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester (longtime cast member and writer Trace Beaulieu) subjecting space traveler Mike Nelson (writer Michael J. Nelson) and his robot pals, the bulb-headed Tom Servo (writer Kevin Murphy) and the bird-like Crow T. Robot (Beaulieu), to an awful movie in an attempt to dominate them. So as not to overly tax the film audience's attention span, two intermissions of a couple of minutes each, approximating commercial breaks, have been thoughtfully inserted so that couch potatoes won't feel too disoriented.

Otherwise, it's all "This Island Earth," or what's left of it, with the threesome, constantly on view in silhouette along the bottom of the screen, needling it mercilessly throughout. Humor ranges from lots of mild gay innuendo about the male characters' "real" relationship to comments on the cheesy special effects and even inside industry jokes -- as onscreen characters gaze up at the stars, one wag fires off, "Oh, look, Orion is bankrupt."

Sport is also made of the lead alien's uncanny resemblance to Robin Williams, and scattershot approach of the jokes effectively will make different people laugh at very different things. Although a bit risque at times, humor could have been more outrageous and bawdy and still made the desired PG-13 cut.

In contrast to the would-be ad libs during "This Island Earth," which turns up in a good-looking print, stuff featuring the mad scientist and satellite dwellers is mirthless and barely tolerable.

If this initial bigscreen outing works even modestly at the B.O., there could certainly be plenty more where this came from, as it reps one of the most cost-effective ways of making a feature imaginable.

Camera (Deluxe color), Jeff Stonehouse; editor, Bill Johnson; music, Billy Barber; production design, Jef Maynard; set decoration, Blakesley Clapp; costume design, Linda Froiland; sound (DTS Stereo), Thomas A. Naunas; associate producers, Beaulieu, Murphy; assistant director, Marie Domingo. Reviewed at Raleigh Studios, L.A., April 9, 1996. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 73 min.