instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
when i watch a movie like mike nichols ' what planet are you from ?
i ca n't help but feel like everyone is looking at me .
it 's as if all the audience is gazing at the back of my head in the darkness , eyes shooting daggers , quietly blaming me for the fact that they paid hard - earned money to spend their time watching this . . .
this .
. .
thing .
i shift uncomfortably in my seat .
i 'm reminded of how i feel when i see a pair of second- or third - rate celebrities engaging in a teleprompted " funny " conversation to introduce the next blockbuster award .
it 's not my fault , i know it 's not my fault , but dammit ,
someone 's got ta be embarrassed , because it does n't look like anyone on the screen is ready to take the blame .
i 'm about to give you a list of names of people who are gon na make a movie together : garry shandling , annette bening , john goodman , greg kinnear , mike nichols .
do any of these names make you instantly shudder ?
the answer i would have come up with before today is no , this is quite a list of talented individuals we 've got here .
granted , john goodman was in the flintstones , and greg kinnear has turned in some less - than - lackluster leading man performances in certified failures like a smile like yours , but even so , they 've got proven power as excellent supporting players .
garry shandling has two television classics under his belt , his ingenious little
it 's garry shandling 's show and the larry sanders show .
and for god 's sake , mike nichols directed the graduate , and annette bening is just walking away from american beauty .
so explain this .
. .
this .
. .
thing .
what planet are you from ?
purports to be a comedy exploring the relationship between men and women satirizing the whole pop - psychology mars / venus phenomenon .
but what this movie winds up being is a collection of unfunny cringe - inducing moments coupled with uninsightful cringe - inducing moments ; the end result is , unsurprisingly , an unfunny , uninsightful , cringe - inducing , thoroughly icky embarrassment .
garry shandling plays an alien from a planet populated by technologically advanced but emotionally vacant males
( they reproduce through cloning , of course ) .
his leaders put a select group of males through a series of tests designed to determine which one is most fit to fly off to earth , find a female of the species , and impregnate her .
they 're taught how to pretend that they 're listening by nodding and saying " uh - huh , " and how to compliment shoes .
imagine my delighted surprise when , oh heavens , all their carefully practiced tactics turn out to fail miserably , producing comedic results !
the lucky winner is fitted with a penis ( since theirs , after generations of disuse have long since shrunk out of existence . . .
i will restrain myself from mentioning the implausibility of such a scenario since the population has stopped evolving due to the fact that they 're all just clones . . .
whoops , too late . )
the penis , when aroused , tends to make a humming noise .
the writers , when frequently strapped for ideas , tend to turn to this as a source of " comedy .
"
it is n't funny the first time .
it is n't funny the eighth time .
it is n't funny the eighteenth time .
if anything , it made me feel vaguely self - conscious .
garry meets up with a coworker at a bank played by greg kinnear , who turns out to be a generic , unlikable scumbag .
he 's meant to fill the part of unfortunate role model for shandling 's alien character , but he 's so flatly drawn that even the writers quickly give up and toss him aside .
kinnear 's scumbagginess is demonstrated by the fact that he claims other peoples ' work as his own to worm his way into a vice presidents ' position and goes to aa meetings to pick up chicks .
wow .
what a magnificent bastard .
nearly every man in the movie , in fact , is played as the same sort of sex - driven slimeball .
when kinnear 's wife walks into the office , there is n't a single guy who does n't trip , bump into a wall , or otherwise pratfall as if they 'd never seen a woman before .
the few guys that are n't particularly slimeballs , such as john goodman 's detective character , are simply uncommunicative workaholics .
shandling meets up with annette bening , who will inevitably prove to be the love he never knew existed , at one of kinnear 's aa meetings .
shandling 's mission is to have a baby , and when he reveals his desires to her , bening instantly falls for him , and the next day . . .
they get married .
yup .
the next day .
cuz ya see , it turns out she wants a baby too !
bening 's character perhaps was the most difficult to watch , especially after seeing her come apart at the seams so effectively in american beauty . . .
if her character here is supposed to be representing the female of the species as a whole , then woe , i say , to the species .
she 's unfathomably insecure , and succumbs so easily to all of shandling 's lines and lies that it borders on tragic .
there 's a point where , after thinking she may not be able to bear children , she learns that she is indeed pregnant .
when garry comes home after nearly cheating on her , she strolls into the kitchen and sings " high hopes " ( you know , the uplifting ant and the rubber tree plant song ) to deliver the news , and then says to him , " now you ca n't leave me .
"
we 're supposed to empathize with shandling 's discovery of the feeling of " guilt , " but instead i wanted to weep for bening that she was placing her entire life and soul firmly in the lap of a great big nothing .
and eventually , shandling falls in love with her . .
.
for real , i suppose , though i 'm not sure exactly what prompted it .
what 's the message i derive from all this ?
men are liars , inherently empty creatures , but if you hang around long enough . .
.
well , maybe something will click .
ha ha .
. .
ha ?
i 'm thankful such broad cynicism is n't frequently allowed to run so rampant .
let 's all join hands and pray that the planet these folks are from is not this one .
there 's also a subplot involving john goodman as an airline incident investigator that wades in the bog of stupidity .
goodman , through a series of astoundingly implausible realizations , puts together the fact that shandling is a being from another world with a magic , vibrating penis .
it has all the makings for a subplot of having shandling be discovered , that , thankfully , never comes to the inevitable hackneyed fruition .
instead , it just dangles limply on the branch for a while , withers , and falls away .
further proof that goodman should just stick to doing coen brothers movies .
but let 's not dwell on this any longer , i 've already wasted plenty of your time and my own .
let 's move on , forget about what we 've seen here , and get on with our lives .
and to help us out , let 's end things on a happy note .
. .
congratuations go out to annette bening , winner of this week 's " title !
" award , for delivering the awkward line of dialog containing the movie 's name .
answer:
N


question:
another formula ' feel good ' quirky comedy from the british isles , much like " waking ned devine , " and a host of other popular low budget movies that turned a nifty profit off a thin story line .
it is filled with likable establishment types living in a quaint town , such as tolerant vicars and policemen , plenty of eccentrics , and of locals who stick together through thick and thin .
the strength of this film lies in its rational theme , that smoking pot should be legalized since it is even less dangerous than drinking alcohol .
the film is tolerable until after its first hour , it then falls completely apart , becoming just too absurd to consider as anything but
sitcom fluff gone completely bananas .
but its long overdue message of decriminalization for certain drugs is on target and allows the film to , at least , be viewed as containing a pertinent message .
its message is especially appropriate nowadays considering the ' war on drugs '
is about to be escalated into colombia .
the drug war has been a total failure so far and with no hope of it being won by law enforcement methods in the future , it has so far just ended up causing america 's jails to be overcrowded with non - violent drug prisoners and offers zero hope of curtailing america 's drug usage and drug supply .
billions of dollars have just been allocated by congress to get officially involved in the colombian civil war , by backing a corrupt government ( remember vietnam ! )
with the idea that military might could stop the cocaine and marijuana harvests in that country .
everything about this proposed action smacks of vietnam , with this scenario closer to home , so
what probably awaits such an effort is a more futile result than the other war .
the film 's mild theme of showing squares getting into the weed business and finding it acceptable by the public , something that should have been accepted some 40 years ago , is a theme long overdue for public acceptance , but one that is better received late than never .
there has to be some common sense in distinguishing what drugs should be legalized and how to educate the public on this , rather than making it a police matter altogether .
the film opens in a quaint cornish seaside village at the funeral of the husband of a middle - aged woman , grace ( brenda blethyn ) , who fell out of an airplane , evidently committing suicide .
the widow soon finds out her husband was a bigger bastard than she imagined .
he left her with a stack of enormous bills and put up , without her knowledge , their comfortable 300 year old house as collateral for a failed business venture by taking out a second mortgage .
the widow finds herself bankrupt and with no marketable skills to pay back her husband 's enormous debts and prevent her from losing the house and becoming homeless .
she also knows that he was having an affair with a sophisticated woman from london , honey ( quick ) .
what makes the affair doubly unsatisfying , is that when conferring with honey , she finds out that he was a tiger with her in bed but refrained from having sex with her .
even though the locals try to help the bankrupt widow out as best they can , the creditors swoop down on her like vultures .
her gardener and handyman , matthew ( ferguson ) , decides to stay on with her , despite his last check bouncing . since she is an expert amateur horticulturist , he convinces her to help him revive his hemp plants , which he grows for private use .
the two soon see this as a possibly big business opportunity , as grace works miracles with the plants which turn out to be high - quality stuff .
for grace , this is a way to save her house and get her out of debt ; for the scotsman , matthew , it offers a chance for him to continue to live in this beautiful village and earn enough money to marry his fisherman girlfriend nicky ( valerie ) .
the locals all let the illegal activities go on undisturbed :
the police sergeant ( campbell ) pretends not to notice what the bright lights in grace 's greenhouse is for , the friendly vicar ( phillips ) counsels about the wisdom of not taking action over something that you ca n't control , and the doctor ( clunes ) enjoys smoking the weed for recreation .
the story becomes incredulous when grace decides to go to london and score with a big - time drug dealer instead of having matthew go , because she finds out nicky is pregnant and does n't want matthew to end up in jail .
it is interesting to note , that no one thinks smoking grass is bad for you , only that one can go to jail .
the scene with grace on portobello road in the notting hill section of london , trying to find a drug dealer , while dressed out of place , in a white dress and hat one would wear to a tea party in cornwall but not on the streets of notting hill while looking to make a drug deal , was completely hokey and the film descended into a huge black hole , whereby it never recovered its dignity .
the film moves into the formula mode , whereas grace beats the odds against her failing to survive , as she meets an international drug dealer , a frenchman ( tcheky karyo ) , who is first seen threatening to cut off her fingers but later becomes her business partner and husband as she becomes a millionaire and writes a best selling fiction book about her experiences , thereby becoming a celebrity .
things work out in a ridiculous way , where there is a total breakdown in the character development of grace , where this matronly figure suddenly becomes merely a cartoon figure instead of live flesh and blood .
there are a lot of silly giggles that come forth and the film has just enough of an acting performance by brenda blethyn to breathe air into it before it comes to its belated finale , as it drones on with its transparently gratuitous upbeat tone , until it makes the audience feel good that the sweet old lady succeeded .
this ' unhip ' film leaves one with the impression that smoking and growing pot is silly , but should be tolerated as something
naughty middle - aged widows screwed by their terrible former husbands must do in order not to remain destitute .
ummm !
answer:
N


question:
note : some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers . be forewarned .
to assess alex cox 's film the winner as a loser would be so indolent .
it would be derisive .
it would be glib .
it would be dismissive .
it would be entirely accurate .
rarely have i seen a film as excruciatingly annoying as the winner , a would - be comedy which quickly proves to be tedious , unfunny , and unengaging .
the film attempts to be fresh and quirky , utilising a myriad of colourful characters to weave its absurd tale , but appears to overlook the fact that nobody in the film is remotely interesting and that all of the characters are essentially preposterous
.
the film is set in las vegas , and the focus in the winner is on philip ( vincent d'onofrio ) , an aloof , naive young man blessed with the odd gift of luck ; he virtually can not lose at the tables .
despite this prodigious talent , philip is perpetually mournful and quite indifferent about his gambling fortunes , neither taking joy in his winnings nor having the foresight to mask his abilities .
consequently , he becomes an easy target for those who would ride upon his coattails and take advantage of his talent .
louise ( rebecca demornay ) , a sultry lounge singer , insinuates herself into philip 's life for the purpose of swindling him , while philip 's estranged brother ( and , conveniently , louise 's ex - beau ) johnny ( michael madsen ) arrives on the scene .
( to add some colour , johnny also happens to be toting their father 's corpse , sans one hand . )
meanwhile , philip is also befriended by a trio of low - rent , opportunists ( frank whaley , billy bob thornton , and richard edson ) , who have every intention of taking advantage of their new buddy 's gift with the dice .
serenely overlooking the chaos from behind the scenes is the casino owner ( delroy lindo ) ; it is probably not giving away much to reveal that his role in the winner is essentially that alluded to at the end of the flashy sequence in martin scorsese 's casino which details the organization hierarchy of a casino 's operations - he * is * the eye in the sky .
it could be maddening to endure a film whose central protagonist is so oblivious of the ongoing blatant manipulation , but fortunately this is not the case in the winner , if only because our sadsack hero is such a sap ;
not even remotely sympathetic or compelling , it becomes impossible to root for philip or even care about his fate , and the would - be swindlers of philip 's fortunes are all drawn out as such ludicrous , transparent buffoons with entirely unimaginative and uninteresting schemes that one watches the winner with a complete sense of disinterest .
it is a shame , as the winner features a talented cast - mr .
d'onofrio is an underrated and gifted actor with a huge range ;
mr .
lindo has a remarkable screen presence which infiltrates every film in which he appears ; mr .
madsen , ms .
demornay , and mr .
whaley have all done good work in the past .
none of the actors in the winner are in top form here , and this film wo n't likely be a prized addition to their respective resumes .
director alex cox does what he can with wendy riss ' screenplay , and it is to his credit that this film at no point feels like an adaptation of a stage play ; i was startled to learn that the winner was in fact based upon one .
while tedious , the film is well - paced and does not meander , but it would be near - impossible task for mr .
cox
( or , for that matter , virtually any other director that comes to mind ) to overcome the film 's widespread shortcomings in plot and characterization .
to his credit , my understanding is that he has chosen to distance himself from the project in acknowledgement of its deficiencies .
i caught the winner at its world premiere at the toronto international film festival in september 1996 , and in fairness it is entirely possible that the film has been extensively revamped since then due to the lacklustre audience reaction generated
- there were more walkouts on this film than any of the others
i screened .
to be honest , though , i could n't begin to isolate what could be done to this film to improve it - i assume that throwing the whole thing out and starting over is out of the question .
the winner has apparently played on cable television in the united states and is beginning a limited theatrical release at the time of this writing .
the film has a nice upbeat score by pray for rain , but i am honestly not being facetious when i state that the thing i treasured most about my screening of the winner was the bag of popcorn upon which i was munching .
answer:

N