Big dumb movie -- so what?

Rating: 7/10 (18 February 2000)

Yes, I recognize that this is a big, dumb movie, but I love it for what it is. Some of the things I love about it:
1. The fact that Ruby Rhod (Chris Tucker) is so obviously intended to be a spoof on Prince, who so badly needed to be spoofed.
2. The fact that the 3-D car chase scene is accompanied by "Alech Taadi" by rai star Khaled -- I tripped out when I recognized the song! I just can't imagine that scene succeeding with any other music now.
3. The huge, unexplained pile of garbage in the spaceport. This IS what the future will be like if we're not careful.
4. That bizarre, buggy dance that the hopped-up mugger kid does after Korben Dallas takes his gun away for him for the umpteenth time. It's about five seconds of the movie that could have been cut perfectly easily, and other people probably think it would have been an improvement to do so, but for me it just adds to the glorious lunacy.
5. The flying sampan-shaped noodle stand.
6. The second alphabet in which everything is labeled. (You've just gotta be impressed with the detail of the art direction.)
7. Milla Jovovich's glossolalia (which is much more impressive, if you ask me, than the skin she shows, since that skin is matched by equal parts bone).
8. The shapeshifting alien who can't hold his face in place any longer.