MORONIC `ROCKET MAN' DESTINED TO BE LOST IN SPACE.Byline: Jane Sumner Dallas Morning News If you think flatulence flatulence /flat·u·lence/ (flat´u-lens) excessive formation of gases in the stomach or intestine. flat·u·lence or flat·u·len·cy n. The presence of excessive gas in the digestive tract. is a gas, Walt Disney Noun 1. Walt Disney - United States film maker who pioneered animated cartoons and created such characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck; founded Disneyland (1901-1966) Disney, Walter Elias Disney Pictures has a movie for you. If your feet don't reach the movie-house floor, ``Rocket Man,'' which opened Friday, will rock your world with bathroom humor, bad acting and rude, stupid sight gags. Fred Z. Randall, the bumbling hero - a software designer who joins the first manned space mission to Mars - makes Beavis and Butt-head look like Talmudic scholars. Stand-up stand·up or stand-up adj. 1. Standing erect; upright: a standup collar. 2. Taken, done, or used while standing: a standup supper; a standup bar. comic Harland Williams stars as the astronaut of the title. William Sadler (Bruce Willis' ``Die Hard 2'' nemesis) plays a cocky mission commander, and Jessica Lundy (``The Stupids'') is the mission specialist in charge of training a chimpanzee chimpanzee, an ape, genus Pan, of the equatorial forests of central and W Africa. The common chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, lives N of the Congo River. Full-grown animals of this species are up to 5 ft (1. for the trip. When the cast member with the most dignity is an ape, it's not a family comedy - unless everybody in the clan is 5 years old. But at least this chimp is smart, not the silly, pie-tossing simian too often seen in kiddie kid·die or kid·dy n. pl. kid·dies Slang A small child. kiddie Noun Informal a child flicks. An ex-forest ranger in his native Canada, Williams made his movie debut as the motorcycle cop who pulls Jim Carrey over in ``Dumb and Dumber.'' He easily slips back and forth between sweet guy and goofball goof·ball or goof ball n. A barbiturate or tranquilizer in the form of a pill, especially when taken for nonmedical purposes. . But mainly he comes off as a mugging bad amalgam of Bean and Pee-wee Herman. Besides the puerile puerile /pu·er·ile/ (pu´er-il) pertaining to childhood or to children; childish. humor, there are a couple of moments that should at least get a snicker from all but the tightest-lipped sourpusses. One is the mission landing where Fred falls down the ladder ahead of his commander (who's waited all his life for this moment) and utters the first immortal words heard on the Red Planet - ``It wasn't me.'' Then, of course, there's the pungent scene where Fred, attached by a hose to his commander's spacesuit, develops intestinal gas. Beau Bridges, whose father, Lloyd, starred in ``Rocket Ship X-M,'' about a spaceship blown off course to Mars, in 1950, adds a warm note as the only mission controller with faith in Fred's abilities in space. And, yes, that's an uncredited un·cred·it·ed adj. 1. Not having been credited, as on a ledger: an uncredited deposit. 2. Not having been accorded due recognition: an uncredited discovery. Shelley Duvall playing Fred's mom. But practically everybody else in this film directed by Stuart Gillard (``The Outer Limits'') goes over the top like Williams and Lundy in their upside-down dance scene - a nice idea that falls far short of magic. The Moab desert serves as Mars, but most of the film was shot in Houston with - believe it or not - the blessing of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civilian agency of the U.S. federal government with the mission of conducting research and developing operational programs in the areas of space exploration, artificial satellites (see satellite, artificial), . Producer Roger Birnbaum, head of Disney's Caravan Pictures, likes to describe ``Rocket Man'' as a cross between ``The Right Stuff'' and the Three Stooges' 1959 space romp ``Have Rocket, Will Travel.'' He's got that half right anyway. THE FACTS The film: ``Rocket Man'' (PG; language, crude humor). The stars: Harland Williams, William Sadler and Jessica Lundy. Behind the scenes: Produced by Roger Birnbaum. Directed by Stuart Gillard. Written by Oren Aviv, Craig Mazin and Greg Erb. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Running time: One hour, 33 minutes. Playing: Citywide. Our rating: One and One Half Stars. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: In ``Rocket Man,'' software designer Fred Z. Randall (Harland Williams) joins the first manned space mission to Mars. |
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