Day of the 'Dog: "What Planet Are You From?"

There is very little about today's 'dog - What Planet Are You From? - that doesn’t meet the criteria for great comedy. There's both clever and original situation comedy as Garry Shandling is an alien sent to Earth in order to breed via a prototype reproductive organ (his race never needed such anatomy before).

The writing is witty and well-timed, with no glaring moments where a certain joke or situation has been stretched too thin. Plus, while I like Shandling as a comedian, I am by no means a huge fan, and you certainly don't have to be to enjoy the film.

So why didn't most people like it? It did receive a pretty mediocre 5.4 IMDb rating with few votes, to boot. Which is a real tragedy when you consider how many belly-roll laughs the movie has - moments where you're likely to pause it to get a chance to catch your breath. Annette Bening is (as usual) very good as the alien's "mate."

I suppose it might be due to the very adult and sometimes awkward subject matter - sex, mostly - of the film that caused it to be ignored by most and given a "meh" reaction by many others. While there are no moments even half as cringe-worthy as the most tame Borat sketch, perhaps the candidness of sex and procreation were a little much for the mainstream to latch onto, despite the cleverness and otherwise well-formed comedy.

So let's say that if you are comfortable with films that contain a little more "adult" comedy, then Planet is a real gem that got an undeserved bum rap, and is sure to bring many good laughs (not to mention some wonderful one-liners).