SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Woodyanders Homesick, alcoholic, shape-shifting, telekinetic nervous humanoid alien Phil just wants to go back to his own planet after crashlanding his spaceship on our strange and hostile world. While stranded on Earth Phil has many bizarre adventures which include befriending an astute, sympathetic talking beaver (delightfully voiced by "SCTV" series vet Joe Flaherty), forming a Christian rock band (Phil levitates while singing on stage), and eluding several nefarious government agents wearing plush fur coats who want to use Phil for evil means.As the above plot synopsis implies, what we got here is one marvelously funny, eccentric and wholly original one-of-a-kind sci-fi comic oddity. Writer/director/star Rob Stefaniuk displays a singularly engaging and idiosyncratic tongue-in-cheek sensibility that's a true wacky treat to behold. The humor is extremely flaky and off-center, but totally inspired and often sidesplitting. Moreover, Phil makes for a peculiarly endearing fish-out-of-water protagonist who has a certain sweet innocence and clumsiness to him that's impossible to dislike. The uniformly excellent performances from the terrific cast qualifies as another substantial plus, with especially winning turns by Boyd Banks as a macho redneck hunter, Nicole de Boer as an icy, but alluring freelance hit lady, Graham Greene as a gruff, unfriendly bartender, and Bruce Hunter as a boozy, burnt-out bumbling special agent. The nifty special effects, John Kastner's funky score, D. Gregor Hagey's bright, crisp cinematography, and the groovy jammin' rock soundtrack further enhance the infectiously zany merriment of this fabulously flipped-out gem.

agentmaxsmart I saw this movie on the shelf at my local video store & it looked like a good choice for a "sit back & watch a silly comedy" rental. The movie starts off pretty good & some of the dialogue is pretty funny. But I noticed two things right off the back. #1: The music in the movie is so much louder than the dialogue, that I was constantly raising & lowering my volume. It was either "blow out my speakers" loud, or "mumble mumble" low. So, this was annoying. #2: The guy that played Phil was terrible. He's like Jaimie Kennedy without the talent. I see he was not only the main actor, but also writer & director. Which usually doesn't work to begin with. Like I said, I thought some of the dialogue was good & the directing was alright. If he had hired someone else to play Phil, it may have turned out a little better. It's a shame because most of the supporting actors stand out more than Phil. In fact, throw out the whole alien part of the story & it may have been a great movie. Well, that & the sound problems.As a plus though, the chick that played Ezri Dax on Deep Space Nine is in the film & she looks NICE!

slushmonkey I started watching this movie thinking it might be a little funny but worth a try. I ended up thinking this was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.Some parts reminded me a bit of Austin Powers type movie but a lot funnier. Very quirky - the beaver is great. I've watched it twice already and it is one I think I will have to be purchasing. I have to admit I usually don't like low budget films especially comedies but Phil has changed all that. I'm hoping for more movies to come from this director/writer/actor and maybe more Canadians will start enjoying Canadian films. Anyway, I would encourage anyone to give Phil the Alien a try and if you're not a complete stick in the mud you'll like it.

calgarian3432 This is a typical Canadian indy film. It's cheap. Real cheap. It has some humor, which is the only redeeming feature.Appearance: Most movies try to look good. This film doesn't even try. The actors almost all look terrible. They don't even try to look good. They must be wearing "ugly" make-up. The setting (Canadian wilderness) had beautiful potential, but they chose to not have a single appealing "nature shot". Here's a free tip for all low-budget Canadian films: There's one really stunningly beautiful thing that you can put in your film, which costs nothing, it's called the Canadian Outdoors. Movies that don't want to look good, do not belong on film; they belong on VHS.Action: boraramma. Not much happens. Not much suspense. Now I can accept low-action when a film when it tries to avoid violence to be "family safe". But, this film has the odd distinction of having a few scenes of ultra-violence with virtually no action. Remember how A-Team had continuous action for the whole show, but nobody got a scratch on them. This is the *exact* opposite.Sex: This film has just enough implied sex to be gross (like an underage boy sees a hooker and falls in love, yuk). There are some other tasteless sexual references. Yet, there is of course absolutely nothing "sexy" about this film.Continuity: Now it's accepted that a film like this (aliens) can never be fully logical. But, without spoiling anything, it tosses a plot twist or two that just doesn't get set-up properly. Don't watch this for the story.Special Effects: If you don't have a budget, don't do effects. The talking beaver was pathetic. The puppet/thing they had was so bad, that a real beaver, with no lip-syncing, would have done a better job. Now some people might excuse the film, by saying that's the "style" they were going for. But that doesn't fit with the rest of the film. I was really surprised to see the full list of credits at the end of the film. They put a lot into this film, but the beaver was junk.Humor: some good jokes. That's all this film has.I paid only six bucks to see this film. It's worth that, no more, no less.