The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Despite the recommendations of several friends who had read and loved the book, I didn’t get around to watching Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy until just recently. It’s worth mentioning that the friends of whom I speak are just as nerdy and weird as am I, in some cases moreso. Thus, it came as no surprise to me that the movie itself was bizarre in the extreme.

The story begins with Arthur Dent, an average, down-to-earth British man who unknowingly befriends one alien and loses a girlfriend to another. Of course, the true nature of the universe is only revealed to him when his strange friend whisks him away just before the Earth meets a sudden and unceremonious end.

Throughout the course of the movie, Arthur is advised by his friend’s copy of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, an electronic encyclopedia with all sorts of useful and comical information about the universe at large. This includes entries about Vogon poetry, pangalactic gargleblasters, infinite improbability drives, and an assortment of other strange topics.

I found the movie to be fun and very novel, though not particularly exciting. The Vogons, who are the chief antagonists of the movie, don’t make for very thrilling villains. The whole story revolves around the romance between Arthur and his former girlfriend Trillian, which is fairly standard despite an odd backdrop. Even Arthur’s rescue of Trillian from the Vogon home world is dull, involving paperwork rather than heroism. Granted, all of this is in keeping with the nature of the story, but the movie itself lacks a lot of entertainment value as a result.

Nonetheless, my wife and I did enjoy watching this movie. We especially liked the idea of the point of view gun, as I’m sure any couple who watched the movie does. All in all, it’s worthwhile to rent and probably makes for a very good read. Just don’t expect to be on the edge of your seat, as the movie is geared more for comedy than action.