movie concepts are often pitched to producers with mathematical formulas involving successful films of the past .
so , undoubtedly one day someone said , " ' evolution ? '
it 's ' ghostbusters ' plus ' men in black ' plus ' tremors . '
"
and so it is .
sum total none .
the alienbusting begins when a meteor lands in glen canyon , arizona .
community college science profs ira kane ( david duchovny ) and harry block ( orlando jones ) take some samples from the meteor and discover that one - celled organisms from inside it are evolving rapidly , doing in hours what took millions of years for life on earth .
just about the time i was wondering , " hey , does n't the government usually come in and take over the whole area in these movies , " the government came in and took over the whole area .
the leader of the pack , gen . woodman ( ted levine ) , turns out to be an old nemesis of ira 's , and ira and harry are blocked from doing further research .
meanwhile , the organisms continue to grow until they are large enough to start attacking people .
by this time , ira and harry have gained a friend in dr .
allison reed ( julianne moore ) of the center for disease control .
a country club poolboy , wayne green ( seann william scott ) , has also attached himself to the merry band .
but can they find the means to stop the aliens in time ?
director ivan reitman seems to be revisiting his biggest hit , 1984 's " ghostbusters , " but " evolution " falls miserably short .
one reason is readily apparent .
" ghostbusters " had three really funny guys as its scientists ( bill murray , dan aykroyd , and harold ramis ) , but " evolution " has one really funny guy ( orlando jones ) who can adlib and milk the comic potential of lines that prove useless in anyone else 's hands . for good measure , " ghostbusters " had the comic talents of rick moranis ; " evolution " offers seann william scott , who was much funnier in " american pie " and " road trip " than he is here .
scott has one amusing scene where he sings " you are so beautiful to me " to a dragon - like alien to draw it into a trap .
other than that , scott seems unable to make much of the thin material the writers gave him .
an actor in search of a forte , david duchovny looked for his gritty action hero side in " playing god " and his romantic side in " return to me .
" now he wants to find his wacky comedic talent ; what we all find is that he does n't have any .
look for him to be back on tv in five years or so .
another sad case is julianne moore , who needs to be more selective about the offers she accepts .
she 's a talented actress with an impressive list of credits and award nominations , so
why is she trying to do slapstick comedy ?
her character has a tendency to trip over and bump into things , but the trait comes off as a pathetic plea for laughs .
the sole saving grace of the film is jones .
he 's at the center of the movie 's funniest scene -- where an alien bug invades harry 's body and has to be pulled out through his ass .
jones is the only cast member who can take the comedic ball and run with it , but he ca n't carry the whole movie by himself .
he found himself in a similar situation in " the replacements , " where he was also the only comic talent in an ensemble cast .
jones will eventually find the project that will make him a major comedy star , but this is n't it .
Output: N