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Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Written by Douglas Adams Directed by Garth Jennings Starring Martin Freeman (BBC’s The Office), Sam Rockwell (Matchstick Men), Mos Def (The Italian Job), Zooey Deschanel (Elf) Rated PG Destined to become a cult classic in its own time, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy film is a fun, quirky addition to the Douglas Adams canon. It opens with an Oscar-worthy tune about dolphins preparing to depart the earth, singing, “So long, and thanks for all the fish.” We soon find out why they are leaving. On a particularly stupid Thursday, the earth is about to be destroyed by the aesthetically challenged Vogons who are building an intergalactic highway (the earth is, unfortunately, in the way). Human Arthur Dent is rescued by outworlder Ford Prefect and the two join a female human, a two-headed egomaniacal galactic president and a manic-depressive robot on a series of adventures. This movie is vintage British humor. One would not have been much surprised if told Terry Gilliam was really the director. (The Vogon penchant for bureaucracy will no doubt remind some viewers of the People’s Front of Judea from Monty Python’s Life of Brian.) The actual director, Garth Jennings, borrows frequently and wisely from narration sequences in the book and gives visual explanations of key fantastic concepts by way of the ultimate Lonely Planet palm pilot/book, entitled The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This film sidesteps the ubiquitous criticism of movie adaptations of books, that it didn’t stick to the book. Of course it departs from the books many times. (One notable example is that President Zaphod Beeblebrox’s second head has been moved to underneath his first one rather than to the side. Unfortunate, but I suppose it saved a few quid in the special effect budget.) But in this case, the books themselves are an adaptation of a BBC radio program. The different adaptations do not need to agree with each other. And in the humorous context of infinite improbability that Adams gives us, we would probably be disappointed if they did agree with each other. This film is for people who love British humor and for people who want to know the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything, even if they don’t know the question. by Dan Singleton
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