Well, shucks... I thought that I'd never get another shot at seeing this flick. It played the festival circuit and I'd never gotten the chance to see it though I had heard great buzz on the film throughout the festivals that it played. BUT, the luck is with me and alot of you as well. Seems the film has been picked up and Smilin' Jack Ruby was Johnny on the Spot with the third row view... Heeeeeeeres Jack!
Hey Harry, Smilin' Jack Ruby here
Thought with all the flap over the new "Star Wars" pic, I might as well submit a review of a much smaller film as an alternative. I have no idea when it will be released domestically, but it will be going through Columbia TriStar when it does.
I saw "The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human" awhile back and remember mostly the fact that the audience didn't stop laughing the entire time, definitely a good sign. The plot concerns the meeting and subsequent courtship of two people, Billy Waterston (played by MacKenzie Astin) and Jenny Smith (played by Carmen Electra), as they progress from lustful early dating, to sex, to parenting, to marriage and all the trials therein. The set-up, however, is that what you are watching is actually a documentary of human relations for an unknown alien species to watch, which is the strong point of the pic as David Hyde Pierce provides the narration.
David Hyde Pierce is damn funny on "Frasier" and functionally plays that same character here (never seen, however) - the always analyzing and frankly condescending at times, Niles Crane. He narrates it from start to finish and, as can be expected, pokes fun at almost every nuance of human interaction.
This kind of thing has been seen before, the documentary of human existence as comedy for other species to watch (Constance Congdon's play "Tales of the Lost Formicans" comes to mind), but this one had just the right tone to really keep people laughing and would play well on the indie circuit sometime in mid-summer. It was written and directed by first time filmmaking, longtime TV-writer Jeff Abugov and produced by ShadowCatcher who last year brought us "Smoke Signals." Larry Estes, one of the producers who introduced the film to that night's audience, has been responsible for green-lighting a long list of films in his career and has been involved in everything from "sex, lies, and videotape" and "Passion Fish," to the notorious "Dark Backward," truly one of the oddest films on record.
For those who are dying to know if Carmen Electra takes her clothes off, let it be said that I never found the nudity in this film to be exploitive as it is in a lot of fare. By stating as much, it assures the viewer that she most certainly does take her clothes off without sounding so much the lech.
Anyway, if this film comes to your town, I can certainly see spending the afternoon watching this pic in the local arthouse as a real alternative to all the dreck playing at the mall (I shouldn't say that as I just saw the excellent "Election" at a mall). Listening to David Hyde Pierce's narration and the occasional surreal aberration that pokes it's way into this stylized first-time effort is definitely worth the price of admission. It also proves, to those who thought otherwise, that Carmen Electra actually does have acting talent, despite the roles that have otherwise inundated her credit list.
-Smilin' Jack Ruby
