What if E.T. and the Thing had a baby, and horribly, that baby was Jeff Bridges? That's Starman, proof that John Carpenter is a romantic at heart. Not unusually, Bridges goes all in as a sweet alien in human form, and Karen Allen grounds the film in a certain believability as the woman whose dead husband's body he took. Whether the romance between them works is up each individual viewer, as Carpenter merely presents the facts and lets them speak for themselves. There are no long-winded scenes to expressly tell us that Jenny finds solace and ultimately closure in this man that looks like the man she still grieves for, no lip-biting self-doubt about whether she's doing the right thing giving in to these feelings. Things happen, and they are informed by past events the audience has been made aware of, draw your own conclusions. So Carpenter is a romantic here, but not sentimental. I think that's why this movie stands the test of time.
Definitely John Carpenter's most touching and heartfelt film.
I've enjoyed all the goofy shit he's done and all, but this is on a whole different level.
Maybe one of my favorite films ever. How is this not on a single top list? Karen Allen is at the height of her beauty here.
I saw John Carpenter live in concert on Halloween a few years ago and I dressed as Jeff Bridges and the woman I went with dressed as Karen Allen. Another couple dressed the same as us and gave us a giant ball bearing.
I expected a lot more out of this movie. For one thing it's John Carpenter.
He obviously didn't write the script for this film but even though it was weak and trite I still felt that he could have done something more with it.
For one thing the special effects are almost all CGI and bad CGI at that. Lovers of The Thing will be highly disappointed.
The story is a simple romantic one at it's core and while I'm not completely adverse to that I can't say that this one ever really drew me in enough to care for what happened between the characters.
The beginning especially felt really cobbled together, the story really lacks cohesiveness and it goes beyond believability. Not because it features aliens but that the things that happen don't even make sense within the sphere of plausible credibility within the story. The atmosphere is non-existent, the dialogue is weak and boring.
It has some nice cinematography, as always with Carpenter, but it's not enough to save the movie.
No tacky alien movie would be complete without the line "You're not from around here, are you?" as well as the scene where the human protagonist attempts to define/explain love to the visitor.
I'm going to cut Jeff Bridges some slack and assume that they hadn't yet learned at this point in cinema history the golden rule of sci-fi: never go full alien.
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Comments 1 - 11 of 11
neocowboy
Pretty damn likeable. Should really be in a top Sci-Fi list.Siskoid
What if E.T. and the Thing had a baby, and horribly, that baby was Jeff Bridges? That's Starman, proof that John Carpenter is a romantic at heart. Not unusually, Bridges goes all in as a sweet alien in human form, and Karen Allen grounds the film in a certain believability as the woman whose dead husband's body he took. Whether the romance between them works is up each individual viewer, as Carpenter merely presents the facts and lets them speak for themselves. There are no long-winded scenes to expressly tell us that Jenny finds solace and ultimately closure in this man that looks like the man she still grieves for, no lip-biting self-doubt about whether she's doing the right thing giving in to these feelings. Things happen, and they are informed by past events the audience has been made aware of, draw your own conclusions. So Carpenter is a romantic here, but not sentimental. I think that's why this movie stands the test of time.ChrisReynolds
Fun and pleasant, despite some cheesy moments. The plot does invite unflattering comparisons to E.T., but it has plenty of its own magic.terezka
Average and predictable.Ralf
Definitely John Carpenter's most touching and heartfelt film.I've enjoyed all the goofy shit he's done and all, but this is on a whole different level.
fricken
Charming!essaywhu
Maybe one of my favorite films ever. How is this not on a single top list? Karen Allen is at the height of her beauty here.I saw John Carpenter live in concert on Halloween a few years ago and I dressed as Jeff Bridges and the woman I went with dressed as Karen Allen. Another couple dressed the same as us and gave us a giant ball bearing.
nick121235
I expected a lot more out of this movie. For one thing it's John Carpenter.He obviously didn't write the script for this film but even though it was weak and trite I still felt that he could have done something more with it.
For one thing the special effects are almost all CGI and bad CGI at that. Lovers of The Thing will be highly disappointed.
The story is a simple romantic one at it's core and while I'm not completely adverse to that I can't say that this one ever really drew me in enough to care for what happened between the characters.
The beginning especially felt really cobbled together, the story really lacks cohesiveness and it goes beyond believability. Not because it features aliens but that the things that happen don't even make sense within the sphere of plausible credibility within the story. The atmosphere is non-existent, the dialogue is weak and boring.
It has some nice cinematography, as always with Carpenter, but it's not enough to save the movie.
Windill
I didn't like the movie because of its Sci-Fi theme, nor for its romance, yet for the road-movie part.mook
John Carpenter's cult SciFi is ET as a grown up romantic road-trip with an alien Jeff Bridges & charming dated effects. 6/10.Follow me on Twitter @LastFilmSeen
devilsadvocado
No tacky alien movie would be complete without the line "You're not from around here, are you?" as well as the scene where the human protagonist attempts to define/explain love to the visitor.I'm going to cut Jeff Bridges some slack and assume that they hadn't yet learned at this point in cinema history the golden rule of sci-fi: never go full alien.