DOIN' TIME ON PLANET EARTH

Ryan Richmond is an eccentric teenager living with his mother, father, sister and brother in the Holiday Inn they own in Sunnyvale, Arizona, the prune capital of the world. Is it any wonder that he wants to go to Saudi Arabaia for college and leave Sunnyvale far, far behind? He spends his days at school with his sex-obsessed best friend Dan Forrester and lusts after Lisa Winston, the sexy lounge singer who his parents have hired to perform at the Holiday Inn. Stuck without a date for his brother's wedding to a senator's daughter, Ryan goes to a computer dating service, which asks him such questions as "Can you breathe foreign substances?" Soon, Ryan is told that he may be an alien stuck on Earth along with thousands of others. Soon, Charles and Edna Pinsky show up and tell him that he may an alien prince meant to lead his brethren home. And that's when things get out of control... Review Ryan Richmond is a weird kid. He thinks he’s weird, his family thinks he’s weird, and so do all the kids at school. Even his best mate Dan (Matt Adler) reckons he’s a few slices short of a loaf. With his brother about to be married, Ryan needs to prove to everyone that he can be at least a little bit normal, and nab himself a girlfriend. Or, failing that, put his name down with a hi-tech computer dating service. But things don’t quite go as planned, and when the computer begins to ask a whole host of WTF questions, Ryan is seriously freaked. That’s when the shit really hits the fan. During a family dinner with the soon-to-be inlaws, a knock comes on the door from a “they look just like the B-52’s!” couple claiming to be talent scouts from Berkley. As it turns out, they’ve been sent to help Ryan fulfill his destiny: become the leader of a planet in galaxies far far away – the planet which he, in fact, descended from. One problem! The only way they’re gonna let him join their little alien clan is if he puts himself through an intense, earth-shattering experience. So will Ryan stay in Sunnyvale, Prune Capital of the World, or be whisked off to another planet and become ruler? He’s gotta figure out what this intense and earth shattering experience is first! A likable comedy. It's fairly obvious that this was the director's first film, as it is a bit disorganized and not quite as smoothly put together as it could have been. But it is equally obvious that the director had good intentions, and helped by an imaginative premise (weird, misunderstood kid believes he's an alien), he did make a likably eccentric film after all. At least it's better that the usual Golan-Globus stuff. (**1/2) There Aren't Any Better Places To Serve Time That We Know Of Young Nicholas Strouse due to a combination of interesting circumstances learns he might be the leader of an alien race who while they might not have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men certainly he and those like him feel they're just Doin' Time on Planet Earth. Is he the one to lead these misfits home? Well not if it's going to interfere with his big brother Timothy Patrick Murphy's wedding this Saturday to Isabelle Walker, the daughter of Hugh O'Brian who once ran for president. But after Strouse starts getting e-mails from a pair of serious UFO fanatics like Adam West and Candace Azzara, he starts to think there might be something to him really being an alien. Doin' Time on Planet Earth is a bit above the usual teenage coming of age party film and part of the reason is the incredibly hammy and overacted performance of Adam West who is just having one grand old time leading a band of misfits. The film is worth a look just to see him alone, burlesquing his Batman persona. Martha Scott is in this, looking a bit lost as to how she got roped into this film. Matt Adler is fine as the perpetually hormonal best friend of Strouse and Andrea Thompson is miles from no-nonsense Detective Jill Kirkendall from NYPD Blue as the lounge entertainer and stripper who fulfills all of what Strouse really needs. It is sad though that this was the farewell film of Timothy Patrick Murphy, best known for being Mickey Trotter on Dallas, who died way too young of AIDS. That young man had it all, looks, charisma, and a goodly share of thespian ability. He was a particular favorite of mine from the Eighties. Doin' Time On Planet Earth is far from the worst film of this kind I've ever seen and you might get a few genuine laughs from it. Rotating Restaurants, The B52s, and Adam West--oh it's a scene, man! Doin' Time on Planet Earth is seriously off-the-wall stupid comedy and one that might make you wonder why Adam West was never in more comedy like this (I've only seen him in parts making references to his role as TV's Batman). An alienated teenager learns that he is the leader of an alien race and he must help them to return to their planet. This wacky series of events occurs during his brother's weekend wedding, which he was ordered by his family to behave as normally as he possibly can. Add to the mix Matt Adler as the kid's horny best friend and the B52's, and you have yourself some good times. There are so many funny little occurences going on, it's a scene man! It's a good little film. A fun movie not to be taken seriously I was an extra in the scene when the aliens shoot up the revolving restaurant. All of us extras met a bus in Hollywood and rode up to Palmdale where the filming for that scene was done. It was a night shoot, cold as hell as I remember. The scene as shot had paramedics hauling injured patrons out the front door of the hotel to a waiting ambulance. Hugh O'Brian's character came over to me, a uniformed cop, and asked for a ride downtown. We jumped in my police car and took off. The aliens ran to an old bus and took off, but for some reason the front axle of the bus broke just as they were filming and had to be manually pulled back in place. It was a fun gig, and all the actors were friendly and going along with it. Almost all of that scene got cut except for a panning shot that shows me with my back to the camera looking up and talking on a hand-held radio. (!)