What Planet Are You From?

"What Planet Are You From?" puts a funny new spin on old, even vintage, truths. <br><br>The thought that fundamental differences exist between men and women won't shock many Earthlings. To retread

Friday, March 3rd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

"What Planet Are You From?" puts a funny new spin on old, even vintage, truths.

The thought that fundamental differences exist between men and women won't shock many Earthlings. To retread that familiar galactic metaphor, some men may indeed be from Mars, while some women may call Venus home.

In the new film, Garry Shandling hails from an unnamed planet located four solar systems and three generations away from Earth. It's a highly evolved, if sterile, environment, with no women among its population. The planet's leader, Graydon (Ben Kingsley, in an enjoyable spoof of his pontificating "Gandhi" role), sends H1449-6 (Mr. Shandling) to Earth. His mission: impregnate a woman and sire a son who will ensure his home planet of intergalactic domination.

For his Earth trek, H1449-6 is equipped with the user-friendly name of Harold Anderson, as well as a noisy mechanical penis. After a crash course in the mating rituals of Earthlings, Harold arrives in Phoenix to work in a bank while surveying the singles scene.

He soon learns that both dating games and office games constitute one big jungle.
Back-stabbing co-worker Perry (Greg Kinnear, looking lost) sabotages most of Harold's chances of advancement. But Harold is luckier at romance once he meets recovering alcoholic Susan (Annette Bening), who's earnestly trying to curtail her own bad luck. (Susan is a real estate agent, and scenes of her showing a house will draw chuckles from Ms. Bening's "American Beauty" fans.)

Susan kindly misinterprets Harold's lack of finesse as unaffected charm. Not surprisingly, Harold eventually shows signs of becoming the man that Susan wants him to be. Perhaps inevitably, as Harold gets in touch with his feelings, the movie loses some of its comic verve and adopts a patronizing, feel-good approach. But even in the film's most predictable moments, the dialogue is consistently buoyant and sometimes even inspired.

Few directors handle dialogue better than Mike Nichols. Going back to his initial double-whammy of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "The Graduate," he's shown a knack for the dynamics of everyday conversation. Mr. Shandling's and Ms. Bening's on-screen chemistry owes much to the director's deft handling of their intimate moments.

Ms. Bening's superb performance may be easily dismissed because she makes it look so easy. Susan is a tricky role. Eternally put-upon, she's the only character the film doesn't mock or play for comedy. Ms. Bening invests her with a quiet desperation that's completely moving and convincing.

Mr. Shandling's role is tailored to his own television persona, and he responds, as expected, with a confident comic performance. But there remains some doubt about his big-screen charisma. In appearance and approach, he seems more comfortably suited to the home tube.

Mr. Kinnear is a washout as the kind of comic shark played so sharply by James Spader in Mr. Nichols' "Wolf." In fact, the office-politics scenes contain the screenplay's most obvious moments.

John Goodman and Caroline Aarons maintain strong comic momentum as a nervous FAA agent and his complaining wife. Mr. Goodman's high anxiety as he suspects the truth about Harold confirms his standing as an engagingly crusty character actor. However, such sharp performers as Linda Fiorentino, Camryn Manheim and Nora Dunn are allowed only the quickest impressions.

"What Planet Are You From?" isn't the cosmic farce that its classy credits would lead you to expect. But it's consistently humorous, often downright funny and sometimes hilarious.