Alien Trespass 2009

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: Sinks under the weight of its homage. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Bewildered? You won't be alone. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: There's no shortage of either the originals or imitators, so why make Alien Trespass, a send-up of second-shelf '50s sci-fi so straight-faced, it could almost pass as the real thing? Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Alien Trespass could be the latest bulletin from Mystery Science Theatre 3000 except that we're the silhouetted heads and the filmmakers are sitting right there next to us. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: While Alien Trespass stays true to the era and the genre, it forgets that its mission in this galaxy is not merely to pay tribute but to entertain. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: It's comfy. It's kitschy. There are lovely enticements but also much that is simply put and beautifully, beguilingly silly. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: That warm tone, along with the picture's bright, saturated, anti-CGI look, is a welcome respite from jokes, irony, and the postmodern malaise of know-it-all-ness. Read more

Cary Darling, Dallas Morning News: While there's a lot to admire, it all feels like an engaging though needless academic exercise. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Robert Patrick and Dan Lauria add gravitas as two small town cops, which says it all. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's a satire without laughs, a parody without punch lines, a careful copy that replicates everything except the original's life. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: This lazy effort gets points only for truly loving -- perhaps to a fault -- the cheapo creature flicks of the 1950s. Read more

New York Post: Alien Trespass, with a rating notice that mentions 'brief historical smoking,' is at least better than last year's official remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: At a certain point you find yourself thinking, why not watch the real It Came From Outer Space, instead of this mildly amusing replica? Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Here is a movie more suited to ComicCon or the World Science Fiction Convention than to your neighborhood multiplex. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: How much you enjoy this strange picture depends on two things: Your appreciation of the genre that is being feted here, and the enthusiasm of the audience that you view it with. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Alien Trespass, an affectionate tribute to flying saucer movies, treats the cliches of drive-in sci-fi with touching naivete. So why isn't it more fun? Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Alien Trespass earns some style points, but the substance is Dullsville. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Alien Trespass, which opens Friday on the heels of the witty Monsters vs. Aliens, feels like an also-ran. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: What's most admirable about Alien Trespass is its bypassing of the wink-wink condescension that usually defines screen flashbacks to the Eisenhower era. Its problem is the absence of any detectable personality in place of that wink. Read more

Jan Stuart, Washington Post: Those who fondly recall The Blob would seem to be the target crowd for a fastidious pastiche that attempts to coax laughs by maintaining a poker face. Read more