There’s also the kind of science fiction comedy that has more to do with the here and now and using a kind of technology that we still haven’t seen yet. Something like Ghostbusters checks off this box, though that too is far from being underrated. No, when talking about truly underrated films sci-fi comedies, they can certainly be flicks that were popular when they first came out, but they need to be something that’s been forgotten by now. In fact, it helps if they were never really that popular when they first launched but were still plenty good when really talking about a movie that qualifies as underappreciated. Luckily there are still several out there that fit that bill. These aren’t movies that are going to be in the Hollywood hall of fame anytime soon, but they’re also not getting their due in 2021.
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Mars Attacks
One of the wackier sci-fi comedies to ever be made, the film is a parody of the 1950s flicks that had to do with alien invasions that were supposed to be serious. Mars Attacks might have actually been a tad too whacky to really catch on but it wasn’t from a lack of trying. The film drew a cast that was the who’s who of Hollywood back in the day including Michael J. Fox, Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Natalie Portman, Glenn Close, Danny DeVito, Paul Winfield, Jack Black, Pam Grier, and Rod Steiger.
There’s a good bet some of the big names were left off this list because the movie had that many stars all lined up to be as nutty as possible. Several of the actors, including Jack Nicholson, actually took on the part of more than one character. Easily the best part of the film was when the American leaders couldn’t decide whether the Martians were friendly or enemies, despite being constantly shown to be trying to kill everyone.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has been one of those sci-fi franchises that has been around longer than most people realize. Some of the things that were done in the book, the series that came from the book, and the newest movie are groundbreaking enough that series like Loki even borrowed from them. Despite the fact that the franchise has been leaned on more than once, the film that starred Sam Rockwell, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel and Martin Freeman is criminally underrated.
Sam Rockwell stars as the galactic president Zaphod Beeblebrox who embarks on quite the adventure with Freeman’s Arthur Dent after the earth is destroyed by a space construction crew. The story has the adventurers meeting all kinds of aliens and having to fight through several different spaceports while also dealing with galactic red tape along the way. Easily the best character in the entire film is a robot voiced by Alan Rickman who is quite depressed.
Evolution
When Evolution hit theaters, it was billed as a kind of Ghostbusters movie, only with aliens. The 2001 film starred David Duchovny back when he was at the height of his popularity thanks to the X-Files. Alongside his main character, who was once a government scientist that had since been disgraced and was teaching at a community college was Orlando Bloom who was a volleyball coach at the same school. Together, the two work with a wannabe firefighter played by Seann William Scott who sees a meteor hit the desert one on a fateful night.
The meteor ended up bringing some kind of an alien ecosystem that gradually adjusts to the earth’s environment and at that point, the aliens start pouring out into the surrounding area. The reason the movie was called evolution is because the aliens that emerge from the meteor are evolving quite quickly from cute little creatures to eventually something that looks like a dragon and alien versions of neanderthals. Alongside Julianne Moore’s government scientist, the quartet need to find a way to stop the creatures from continuing to invade the earth.
The Man With Two Brains
The Man With Two Brains is one of the more oddball science-fiction comedies out there, though that shouldn’t be all that surprising considering that young Steve Martin stars in the flick. During this period of his career, he did all kinds of whacky comedies including The Jerk.
This particular film is an underrated science-fiction comedy that most people at this point have completely forgot existed. Martin stars as a man who discovers and then falls in love with a literal brain. He stumbles upon a doctor that has perfected a way to keep brains alive in jars and Martin’s character is able to communicate with one brain in particular. Eventually, he falls in love with the brain that used to be a woman and spends the most of the rest of the movie trying to find a body to put his lady love’s brain in.
The World’s End
The World’s End has a bit of a double entendre type of name. Yes, this is one of the best comedies that deals with the end of the world. The World’s End also happens to be a bar that is involved in one group of friends’ final bar crawl that happens to take place while an alien race is taking over the world. This is the third of three movies directed by Edgar Wright that starred Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and a cast of characters. This is actually the second movie on this list that also stars Martin Freeman, hinting that he knows how to find himself some good comedies.
As the aliens start taking over the world, they replace human beings with robots that at first glance appear to be exact replicas of the people they replaced, though if they get cut or hurt, they bleed blue liquid. Their heads also tend to pop off when they are hit hard enough. The film is also a story about growing up, growing apart, and being stuck in the past. The film is funny, poignant, and downright crazy at times and needs to be watched.
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