The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Arthur Dent	Martin Freeman	½
Trillian	Zooey Deschanel	½
Ford Prefect	Mos Def	½
Zaphod Beeblebrox	Sam Rockwell
Slartibartfast	Bill Nighy
Narrator/The Guide	Stephen Fry
Jeltz (voice)	Richard Griffiths
Humma Kavula	John Malkovich
Deep Thought (voice)	Helen Mirren
Marvin (voice)	Alan Rickman

Review

Absurdity is an underrated phenomenon in comedy. The trio of Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker realized its potential and put it to use in the best possible way in films such as Airplane! and The Naked Gun. In the not equally subtle nor impressive trend of teen/sex comedies of late, however, intellectuality and absurdity have been substituted with profanity and banality. Enter the vivid (to say the least) imagination of Douglas Adams and his hugely successful novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", combine that with a talented and visually creative British director, and you've got the basis for one of the most inventive and delightfully unpredictable sci-fi/fantasy movies in some time.

Martin Freeman (from the hit series The Office) makes for an ideal ordinary hero, and the supporting cast is amusing (Sam Rockwell and Bill Nighy in particular). As opposed to other adaptations of big 20th century fantasy fiction over the past two years (The Lord of the Rings trilogy notably), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is wise enough to not take itself too seriously and to know when to stop. This gives the film a spontaneity which makes this a highly intuitive experience. Even though the annoying robot should've been sedated, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is perhaps the most enjoyable road-movie since Stagecoach.