Evolution

Plot synopsis:
A meteor falls to Earth. At the same moment, a young man called Wayne Grey (Seann William Scott) is pretending that his mother has burned the house down because of falling sleep while smoking in bed. The mother is a dummy. He sees the meteor fall and runs away, runs because the meteor fell right over his car, leaving a huge crater.Cut to GLEN CANYON COMMINUTY COLLEGE, in the morningDr Ira Kane (David Duchovny) is a professor who has just given almost all his students an A in their biology papers. Two overweight boys - siblings Deke and Danny Donald (Ethan Suplee and Michael Ray Bower) were the only ones who got a minus, because they confused the topic of their papers, talking about their uncle living in a "cell" instead of writing a paper about "cells" as in the cells which make up human bodies.Professor of Geology Harry Phineas Block (Orlando Jones) checks a female student, Nadine (Katharine Towne) [who wants to be a nurse]'s examination and wonders whether she should try a different job, one where other people's lives are not dependent on her skills. She wants to be Miss Arizona, but her pageant consultant says that nursing studies would impress judges. Ira interrupts him to go to lunch.They both go to check the meteor. Harry belongs to the USGS, the USA's geological service, so he can check the meteor. Harry presents Ira as his secretary to Sheriff Long (Michael Chapman). The guy from the beginning says that he was practicing for his fire-brigade entrance examination in the middle of the night. The hole made by the meteor looks like a cave, and the police officers are fooling around it and taking pictures of one another. Officer Sam Johnson (Pat Kilbane) asks Harry what he's doing there. Harry gives attitude, but Ira gets straight to the point, saying that they need to take some samples. Sam says that they (the police) already have all the photographic evidence they need. The meteor is still hot. When they hit it with an axe, it kind of bleeds. It's Ira who analyzes it under the microscope and he sees cells multiplying like crazy until they break the thin layers of glass in which they were put.Harry is the volleyball coach as well. Ira runs to tell Harry about the ten base pairs DNA he's just found. Harry and Ira are already talking about the Nobel Prize. Suddenly, there is not a unicellular organism, but a multicellular organism. To explain it, Ira immediately comes up with the explanation that the cells are evolving.Wayne fails his fire brigade exam because he's sleeping, he hits himself in his privates with the hose pipe. He can take the exam again in six months.Harry and Ira take their classes to see the meteor. There, there is a bad smelling vapour around everywhere, and mushroom-like yellowy things have sprouted out from the floor of the cave. Nadine complains of feeling something on her toes. Under the mist, there are millions of slimy worms. Ira picks one up and it dies when he lifts it up: he thinks that oxygen killed it. Ira puts one in a specimen jar, and it splits over and over again. Ira wants to keep everything secret, because the government will take things from them. Ira seems to know a lot about how the government works.Wayne is the pool manager, and he's told off about a damp towel by Barry Cartwright (Gregory Itzin). He goes to get some cleaning stuff, and he finds loads of slimy worms on the floor - he stumps on some of them - and wonders at what is inside a kind of container with water - a kind of fish with sharp teeth and bad-ass attitude. He leaves the storeroom. Harry has analyzed the samples and found three different subspecies, the worms are evolving really quickly. They again visit the crash site, but the military are already there. The guard at the gate (Timothy R. Layton) won't let them pass, he enquires about them. Another soldier tries to shoot Ira. They are let in eventually.There, they meet General Russell Woodman (Ted Levine), Ira's ex-boss, who says that they have been monitoring Ira's computer, and Allison Reed (Julianne Moore), a clumsy scientist who trips on the step and falls down. Harry and Ira see her underwear and make comments about her garter belt. The Army is going to lead the investigation. Ira and Harry have to leave, and Ira moons.Two weeks laterIra goes to court to be allowed to be part of the federal investigation. Judge Guilder (Steven Gilborn) gets annoyed when Russell says that Glen Canyon Community College facilities are a joke. Allison questions Ira as a witness. He was dismissed because he gave an experimental anthrax vaccine to soldiers with horrible consequences. They have no chance of winning. When they return to their lab, all the samples and their computer have been stolen in a break in. They get angry so they decide to break in the military facilities, Ira dressed as a colonel and Harry as a soldier.Inside the facility, they see a large flying mosquito. Lt. Cryer wonders who these two people are - one of them is kinda dancing in the lift. Inside the cave, there is an Alice-in-Wonderland kind of rainforest. Cryer tells Reed of the unauthorized walk through. Colonel Flemming (Ty Burrell) smiles at Harry's sexual comments. A fly has entered Harry's suit. They try to kill it, but it's in his leg. Immediately taken to hospital, Dr. Paulson (Wayne Duvall) removes the bug via Harry's rectum, while nurse Tate (Wendy Braun), Ira and Allison cheer him. When they take the bug out and it breathes oxygen, it dies.Wayne is the waiter at a party, still pissed off abut his failure. Barry sets a date with a pretty lady at a lonely location at the golf club and a kind of alligator eats him. Wayne isn't sorry at all. Wayne takes the late alligator to Ira and Harry, just out from hospital. It just died choking because of the oxygen in the air.At a meeting of ladies, at Jill Mason's home (Stephanie Hodge), Patty (Kristen Meadows) finds many dead bugs. Something is pushing a locked door, and Jill makes Grace (Miriam Flynn) open the door. A huge frog-like thing appears. It looks sad and meek. Grace wants to pet it, but alien-like inner mandibles spring out and bite her hands. The ladies panic, and Debbi (Winifred Freedman) tries to call 911, while Jill tries to shoot the animal. However, it chokes to death and deflates.Ira talks to Allison, saying that they're spreading and adapting. Harry, Wayne and Ira talk over breakfast about the alien. Ira asks Denise (Sarah Silverman), his ex-girlfriend, for some cream. She's with Sam at that moment. Ira reclaims his shirt - which Denise is wearing - so she offers to take it off right there. Sam avoids it, but has to run to work, because he's been called.The three of them go to check the animal, and Sam lets them. Wayne finds the place where hundreds of alien animals are dying. One big animal dies on the spot, but it gives birth to a small dragon-like animal through the mouth. It immediately flies off to Tumbleweed's, the nearby shopping centre. The three friends steal weapons to shoot it. A middle-aged couple (Mary Pat Gleason & Tony Mirzoian) are the first ones to spot it when it flies through the shop window. A girl (Morgan Nagler) is in the dressing room. The dragon takes her. Wayne sings to attract the dragon. Incredibly enough, the dragon responds to the bad singing, because it looks like it hurts it. Harry takes the girl and Harry shoots the dragon. Everybody claps. The three friends leave by car, dancing to the song  Play That Funky Music White Boy A reporter (Steve Kehela) is reporting on the dozens of dead animals. They interview a road worker (Andrew Bowen) who has a hurt hand, and another reporter (Lee Garlington) says that there are no comments from the government.Governor Lewis (Dan Aykroyd) is angry at not being informed about the alien situation earlier. The three men interrupt the meeting in which the spread of the aliens is being discussed. Woodman wants to drop an h-bomb onto the things. In the cave, the aliens have evolved into primates which are disabling all cameras, and appear to be leaving through the lift, which is empty, and at that moment lights turn off and the primates attack everybody. One jumps back down the hole through which they appeared, Wayne kills the last one.Lewis gives Woodman the power to use the bomb. Allison disagrees with Woodman's decision, who makes them leave, but this time, Allison leaves with them. They try to evacuate everybody. Ira addresses a bowl of liquid from the meteor. Harry smokes and throws a match which lands in the liquid, igniting it, causing it to grow immediately, like an indoor firework. Allison tries to tell Woodman not to use the bomb. Deke and Danny take beers to everybody. By looking at the periodic table printed on Allison's T shirt they calculate they need selenium, and a lot of it. The Donalds will create it from Head & Shoulders shampoo, whose active ingredient is selenium sulphide. Wayne borrows the fire-brigade's lorry.The army and Lewis shoot the aliens, and with the explosions, they expand rapidly. A gigantic worm destroys houses and roads and stomps on soldiers. The huge thing starts dividing. They drive the fire truck under the thing, which nastily farts. Harry introduces a hose pipe as though it were an enema. The thing takes Harry inside, and then, when Harry is out and the truck is driving away, it explodes all over the place, sowing green goo everywhere.Ira and Allison kiss, covered in green goo. Woodman fights the people who try to clean him up. Lewis congratulates the group. Wayne becomes a firefighter. Allison and Ira go to the fire truck to make love, so they don't take their medals.The dragon-like animal flies over the three friends because... they are making a commercial for Head & Shoulders shampoo.Credits.

Tags: cult, comedy, entertaining, boring, stupid

Review:
While this film is far from a masterpiece, Evolution deserves better ratings than it currently enjoys here at IMDb. The cast and crew contribute superior work, and the storyline is quite inventive.
I anticipated another lame comedy and a cheap imitation of "Men in Black."  "Evolution" can be compared to "MIB" in certain aspects, but it breaks new ground.I can't give a really scientific review, because quite frankly I was too busy laughing to weigh out the pros and cons.
Ivan Reitman is the famed director of the "Ghostbusters" movies, and "Evolution" has much of the same charm and quirky sense of style and humor.
I enjoyed the watching the entire alien "ecosystem" evolve.Fortunately, I'm the kind of person that understands a movie made to be predominantly a comedy doesn't require scientific accuracy, nor should the audience expect it.
I mean, come on, after he was given duds like `Father's Day' and `Six Days, Seven Nights' to work with, isn't it about time that Hollywood gave him a project worth while (I won't even mention the bombastic disaster of `Junior'oh, I just did)?It begins with the introduction of Scott's character, Wayne Green, a wannabe fireman practicing for his fireman final (questionable at first, hilarious in the end).
After a community college science professor, Ira Kane Duchovny, working with one screwed up screen name)and his eccentric geologist buddy, Harry Block (Jones) discover the meteor, they find that the `bleeding' rock starts to create these weird alien creatures and soon they begin to multiply.
Kane's nemeses, Gen. Woodman (Levine) and the military get involved, things get too out-of-control, so it's up to the teaming of Kane, Block, Green and government scientist Allison Reed (Moore) to stop the evolution.If you're a Reitman fan, the plot of this could make you go in expecting some kind of tribute to both `Ghostbusters'.
Thank god the film is a comedy; if it was its original idea, the ending would have been disastrous.`Evolution' is a overall crowd-pleaser with nice special effects and makeup (those dead aliens looked great).
He's tapped into the present and how most comedies are made, but he didn't dare forget his roots: there is a sequence in the film where Duchovny, Jones and Scott chase down a flying creature in a mall.
David Duchovny has good comic timing that hasn't really been tapped before, Orlando Jones is far better here than in Double Take and Say It Isn't So and Seann William Scott is a damn fine comic actor who uses his goofy charm to his advantage.
"Evolution," starring David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott and Julianne Moore, is a terrific fun summer romp.
It has been made in a summer of super event movies, and film/game conversions and I feel stands alone as the only comedy with an original source material (in sci-fi anyway).It is highly enjoyable.
Mr. Jones is a relative newcomer to the cinema, and I reckon that over time he may very well ascend to the the same esteemed level as Eddie Murphy, or his latterday composite (of sorts) Will Smith.The plot is most sound, and although it draws some comparisons to "Ghostbusters" as other critics have noted, it stands alone as Summer 2001's most original comedy event movie.
Mr Reitman, a veteran knows how to make films play easily, is one of the few directors who knows how to use good comedy actors.
It's a shame that Aykroyd's presence as a "big" man is more valued then his acting talent, because he's always a delight to watch.To cut in some sourness, there's not a lot of involvement with the central characters, and you do find yourself watching people being cheated into a state of reaction at the expense of the colourful effects, but that's the way it was made, and we can't change that.In all I would recommend this film to the less morose viewer, as it's cheerful, colourful, and does not require an over-critical view.
Think Ghostbusters with aliens, the heart and mood of Galaxy Quest, better special effects, and Orlando Jones..
Basically, think of Evolution as a remake of Ghostbusters only throw out the ghosts and put in aliens, which I like because aliens, in my opinion, are cooler and more realistic than ghosts.Let me mention some bad stuff, just to get it over with because I have to do at some point.
Ivan Reitman has made a new classic sci-fi comedy, but that isn't a huge surprise coming from the man who helmed Ghostbusters.
Some of the gags are somewhat overused, such as Julianne Moore's CDC scientist's clumsiness, but the rest of the movie easily overshadows these blemishes.In his first few scenes, Scott's acting seems absolutely awful, but that quickly disappears (and I have no explanation for it whatsoever).
One line about government officials seems to draw from the audience's knowledge of Duchovny's "other" role, and received an even bigger laugh for it.Orlando Jones also shines in this movie.
This is not going to be a great classic  but if you want broad humour and a silly story  with a few laugh-out-loud jokes  then this is definitely the film for you.
David Duchovny is out chasing aliens again and, in some ways, spoofs his `X-Files' character; he was a good bit of casting.
He and Ms Moore have good screen chemistry and it would be nice to see them together again.More directors need to think of Orlando Jones when casting films  He really can act and, while the material in `Evolution' doesn't offer too many opportunities to do so, he takes the chances he is given and runs with them.
He has some of the better lines in the movie and, remembering that this is a farce, is probably the most believable character in the movie.The location photography is, at times, dazzling; however, some of the special effects looked very cheesy  very obvious green screen' shots  so obvious that I wondered if they were bad on purpose.
Unfortunately the sound track detracts from the overall end product: it seldom had anything to do with the action on the screen and sometimes was outright annoying.This is a good summer movie:  just go, laugh and don't think too much..
The combinations of Mr Duchovny and the other are great but some extra do not perform very well such as the scene at with the flying creatures.The last part where the movie almost end, looks so fake on the big huge aliens and that make this story weakness at that part.
Duchovny's comic timing is terrible, and the witty repartee that one normally finds in buddy movies such as this is completely lacking between Duchovny and Orlando Jones; it's absolutely amazing, watch this movie and you'll see that there is zero chemistry between the main characters.
It's like taking everything in your refrigerator and mixing it all together and hoping it will taste good.It doesn't.I'll echo the sentiments of another reviewer who said the film lost him when they were taking the mosquito thing out of Jones.
'Evolution' is the movie equivalent of your tonsils: You're not sure why they were made, and once you're done with them you're left with only pain and discomfort.Director Ivan Reitman has made some good stuff, most notably 'Ghostbusters.' This movie is 'Gross Bluster.' Like Ghostbusters, the plot revolves around some misfit scientists who discover a paranormal (this time alien) threat to humanity.
Ayckroyd himself even makes a cameo, just to remind us we're watching 'Ghostbusters,' only without the laughs, story, characters, script, or direction.Julianne Moore and Seann William Scott round out one of the most wasted groups of talent in recent film memory.
This movie is really funny , I really liked how all the Aliens creatures are total different from one and another and the way some of creatures looked were really great special effects.One of one favourite part of the movie, which I can not, not mention is the house full of the those Women and one of the women open door and then appears nice looking creature and one of women say's When did you a get dog"That scene made me laugh so much also most stop breathing and as I on the floor.
There are some really great funny moment in this movies, that had me laughing out loud.The acting for the whole cast was really good and liked how the movie ended.I am little shocked there was no sequel to this movie, I would love to see a sequel to this movie..
Okay let's make a list of pro's and con's:PRO'S: a really good and original story, (mostly) great special effects, the humor isn't overdone & Ivan Reitman is directing.
Jones as Vankman, Duchovny as Ray/Egon, S.W. Scott as Winston, Julianne Moore as Dana and Dan Aykroyd as the mayor)CON'S: fortunately, it wasn't turned into "Ghostbusters III" as planned because for a Ghostbusters-movie it wouldn't have been good enough.
BAD directing, BAD acting, TERRIBLE script writing (Makes me feel even stronger in my convictions that NEPOTISM among screenwriters & producers is ALIVE & WELL in Hollywood)This is an AWEFUL retread of Men in Black...and when, OH WHEN, are we gonna see a comedy with a Black character NOT talking about "whoopin' some White ass", dancing, and/or acting like a sex fiend?..Oh, how about this now CLICHE' throw away line by a black actor in a movie...
Little to nothing is actually funny about the plot, characters, or their interactions with each other or the aliens.David Duchovny, who does an okay job in this unfunny movie, seems out of place trying to do comedy with an Xfiles-type investigative character.Julianne Moore play an uncoordinated government scientist.
It's an amusingly sarcastic movie that takes full advantage of Duchovny as a straight man (something he showed he's a master of during the X-Files years.) I think the studio really missed the boat on the way this film was marketed and subsequently very few people ever saw it..
Two scientists from the local community college (David Duchovny, Orlando Jones) get wind of the happening, and on arriving at the scene, discover a few curiosities about the meteor - not least of which is the appearance of alien life.
As the army aren't known for their sense of restraint, it all leads to an explosive finale, that'll make you think twice about your brand of dandruff shampoo.One of the things that makes this movie great is that it works, not just as a roaring comedy, but as a sci-fi thriller.
This movie was extremly funny with Orlando Jones and David Duchovny.
I mean, David Duchovny, playing a twist on his 'X-Files' character, and Orlando Jones, the 7-Up guy,who had only been in a couple movies.
I mean I see pretty decent movies on IMDb that are low, I mean like cute little comedies like Mannequin or Simply Irresistible that just make you feel good at the end.
Sure, Ivan Reitman also directed Ghostbusters, but this movie has NO similarity to that film in plot, location, theme, etc.
This was supposed to be a Men in Black knockoff.The only thing is that Orlando Jones is no Will Smith and David Duchovny is no Tommy Lee Jones.Was this supposed to be a funny movie?
"Evolution" stars David Duchovny and Julianne Moore with Seann William Scott.
It's a comedy with a lot of jokes and silliness with some great special effects for the kind of movie this is, silly summer fun that's worth watching for sure..
Yeah, the alien lifeforms are weird, Seann William Scott's character is weird, classical independent drama actor Julianne Moore attempting to do broad slapstick comedy is weird, David Ducovny doing a half-baked parody of his famed X-Files persona and baring his ass is weird; and Ivan Reitman attempting to copy the success of his hit GHOSTBUSTERS with a sci-fi movie comedy grounded in science exobiology theory is weird.
They had a good cast and it just seemed like they didn't know what to do with them the movie really is just a waste of time its not even worth to rent..
All in all I would say its one of those kind of movies you watch once every couple years or so whenever you happen to catch it on.I must say tho, I have always liked David Duchovny!
All in all I would say its one of those kind of movies you watch once every couple years or so whenever you happen to catch it on.I must say tho, I have always liked David Duchovny!
All in all I would say its one of those kind of movies you watch once every couple years or so whenever you happen to catch it on.I must say tho, I have always liked David Duchovny!
(Why is the expulsion of intestinal gas regarded with such mirth?) As it was, the movie just got stupider by the minute in the second half, very few of the gags were funny, the science went down the drain and the shampoo commercial ruined whatever was left.Although it is possible to mix SF with comedy, it is very hard to make it actually work.
Good Fun. Every time I watch Evolution after a year or two of not viewing it I expect the film not to hold up.
Wayne (Seann William Scott), a want to be firefighter who discovered the meteor, and Allison (Juilianne Moore), a klutzy government scientist, join Ira and Harry to combat the alien organisms that have been rapidly evolving since their arrival on Earth.It is a simple script with not many twists or turns, but the thing that gets me every time is the chemistry between the actors.
And at the end of the day I'm always down to watch this movie once a year just for some good fun..
As I watched EVOLUTION I thought to myself, "this film would actually work if it did away with the attempted comedy and stayed serious." Therefore, I'm not surprised to read here that Ivan Reitman turned a straight sci-fi plot into a unrepentant series of butt gags.Let me cut straight to the chase: not once did EVOLUTION make me so much as 'crack' a smile.
I found it amusing to hear Reitman remark on the DVD how the strength of the film was its comedy; it reminded me of listening to George Lucas insist on the Phantom Menace DVD that "Jar Jar is the key to the whole movie."EVOLUTION could have been a classic had the story fell into a different pair of hands.
The special effects are quite good, and the actors do good performances: David Duchovny is ok (as always), Orlando Jones is very very funny (I like this man) and Dan Aykroyd is the funniest one for me.
And "Evolution " it's a complete failure :it's bad as a sci-fi movie and it is unfunny as a comedy .
It's clear that as long as Ivan Reitman works in sci-fi comedy he will never achieve the greatness he did with Ghostbusters.
Watching them run riot and cause havoc is the main fun of this film.Ghostbusters had a dry, sarcastic sense of humor, like a fine wine.
Orlando Jones is kind of good but he too often takes his role in the stereotyped 'only black guy in a white movie' direction.
Sadly though, Julianne Moore's accident-prone scientist just isn't funny and her clumsiness seems false and forced.But obviously when you judge Evolution next to something better it seems an inferior movie.
When "Evolution" came out, many critics asserted that director Ivan Reitman had ripped off his own movie "Ghostbusters" and re-worked it to be about an alien invasion.
Starring David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, Ted Levine, Dan Aykroyd and Gregory Itzin..
Reitman must have thought he was doing a remake of Ghostbusters, a movie that was that was far more successful because it was strictly a comedy with three fine comedian actors.
For some reason.David Duchovny took a break from playing 'Fox Mulder' in the ever-popular 'X-Files' in order to film this other 'alien invasion' movie.
It'll never really win any awards or be remembered as anything other than a sort of Ghostbusters-with-aliens clone, but if you like David Duchovny, or silly light-hearted sci-fi in general, put this on – it's the kind of movie you don't have to think too deeply about and can dip in and out of and still get a nice warm feeling of enjoyment out of..
I can't believe I haven't reviewed this movie until now.it' stars Stars Orlando Jones and David Duchovny as two professors/colleagues who stumble onto something out of this world.i won't give any more of the plot away than that.you'll have to see it for yourself.it's played for laughs and it comes by those laughs honestly.it's very funny.there are some hysterically funny scenes.but it's not just a comedy.it's also a sci/fi/adventure film.Julianne Moore, Ted Levine and Sean William Scott also star and are very good here.the wring is very good here with some great dialogue.of course this is just my opinion.for me,Evolution is a well deserved 8/10.
Add Sean William Scott and Julianne Moore and this is not that bad of a movie.Oh yeah...let's not forget the aliens, crawling into different orafices of Orlando Jone's body.
There were times where I would think "Oh, that's funny!" Won't laugh, but hey, they tried.I liked David & Julianne...
If you can appreciate a skillful blend of imagination, science fiction, and comic genius, you'll love this movie.On the other hand, if you've got an unreasonable prejudice against (A)David Duchovny or Orlando Jones, (B) a film that pokes fun at the rediculous theory of evolution (now there's COMEDY for you), or (C) the delightful blend of sci-fi and comedy, then you won't like this film.Oh well, it's your loss..
Fun film to watch, the acting was interesting, the special effects varied and the plot only had a few quirks.
It's full of cliches, wasted characters (Sean William Scott is a GREAT man to have around in a comedy but he has nothing to do in this movie), and some pretty bad acting all around.