Film Review: Coneheads (1993)

Saturday Night Live is not among the longest lasting, but also one of the most influential shows in history of American television. This conclusion might be drawn based on the large number of Hollywood films based on the show’s comedy sketches, including legendary The Blues Brothers. However, some of those films also turned into major flops, and one of the first do so was Coneheads, 1993 science fiction comedy directed by Steve Barron.

The plot is based on the series of sketches developed by Dan Ayrkroyd and Jane Curtin for 1976/77 season. Those two actors repeat their roles of Beldar Clorhone and his mate Prymaat Clorhone, humanoid aliens with cone-shaped skulls who come from distant planet Remulak. The plot begins when their spaceship, which was to prepare for invasion and conquest of Earth, gets shot down by USAF fighter jet, leaving Beldar and Prymaat stranded on strange and primitive planet. They have, thankfully, landed near New York City where their strange looks and behaviour won’t cause too much suspicion. When they learn that the rescue ship won’t arrive for a long time, they are forced to adapt to circumstances and try not only to pass as Earthlings, but also to support themselves by doing jobs most illegal immigrants do. Their hard work pays off and they get a house, car and respectable position in the neighbourhood under adopted surname “Conehead”. There are, however, two things that might complicated their situation. One of them is Gorman Sneedling (played by Michael McKean), official of US Naturalization and Immigration Service which, despite rising in the rank of organisation, gets obsessed with desire to arrest and deport Coneheads from wherever they came to USA. Another is Conjab “Connie” (played by Michelle Burke), their daughter that was born on Earth, completely adopted local culture, started dating Earthling named Ronnie Bradford (played by Chris Farley) and has second thoughts about returning to Remulak when the time comes.

A lot of criticism towards Saturday Night Live feature film adaptations is based on the notion that what works as a five minute sketch is difficult to successfully expand into feature film. Script, co-written by Aykroyd, Tom Davis, Bonnie and Terry Turner, could give good arguments for such claim. While Aykroyd and Curtin work hard to make their characters unusual with strange speech patterns and make-up, audience gradually lose interest because most of the gags are repetitive, undeveloped or simply not funny. There is obvious lack of plot which is compensated with cliched Javert-like character menacingly played by Michael McKean or even more cliched subplot about upcoming alien invasion. Script authors try to keep things interesting with some mild social commentary, about clueless Americans accepting even most bizarre characters when they try to blend into society. There is also predictably left-wing celebration of American Dream and USA as efficient “melting pot”, with strong criticism of any government’s attempt to stop new people coming into country (this dimension of Coneheads would probably be lost to viewers in Biden’s America, where the official policy towards is completely opposite of what the film’s authors attacked in 1980s or early 1990s). Coneheads finally falls apart when, like so many weak comedies, tries to compensate lack of humour with segment that takes on Remulak and features large amount of special effects. Although very short and thus easier to digest than some of the more notorious Hollywood failures, Coneheads should be recommended only to the most loyač fans of Dan Aykroyd or Saturday Night Live.

RATING: 3/10 (+)

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