Rating: 
Summary: A decent Gary Shandling vehicle!
Review: I'm never to keen on pictures that are written a vehicles for stars, by the stars themselves. However, when its Gary Shandling and Mike Nichols, you know it can't be all that bad. This movie, about an alien sent to Earth to procreate in order to repopulate his sterile world, has its share of cliches, but also has its share of genuinely funny moments. People that are old enough to remember further back than the Larry Sanders show on HBO, might liken this movie more to the Fox Networks tv program The Gary Shandling Show, that debuted about the same time as Married With Children. His character is more like the likeable, bumbling Shandling and less like the wise mouth, venemous Larry Sanders.Annette Benning is one of those rare actresses who can switch from comedy to drama like a light being turned on and off.Witness her funny delivery of the alien child, and then her dramatic performance when Shandlings alien leader kidnaps her child and takes it back to the mother planet. While Benning's character is wildly fun, Shandling's alien is very low keyed, much like the actor himself. Most of the gags comparing alien behavior to male earthling behavior are right on the money, courtesy of Nichols direction. However, I agree that there's not much to this film besides one liners, Bennings performance, and that of the always loveable con man Greg Kinnear.While Shandling is no action hero, he does manage to save the day and wrap up the movie very predictably.One thing the film does re-enforce, however, is man's ability to affect/corrupt the aliens that do settle among us. Luckily, in this case, Shandlings alien finds the modicum of good in the human race instead of the bad. Still, the movie doesn't rise much above the better episodes of tv's Third Rock From the Sun.
Rating:
Summary: What Planet is this Movie from?
Review: If this film was directed by someone else besides Mike Nichols, WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM? might have been a major disappointment. Fortunately, under the helm of Nichols, it is a decent comedy with a premise that is not very original and which has been explored upon so many times. Gary Shandling is an alien sent to earth to learn about the human species for future takeover,and to impregnate an earth female, then to report back to his home planet with the alien/human baby specimen. Along the way, he gets a job here on earth, makes a few friends (Greg Kinnear), and tries to bed every women he sees while trying to keep his "humming" penis quiet when he is near any women. This is one of the funny plot devices in this movie. Shandling does a decent job carrying the film being the lead, and has a few bright spots of banter and dialogue which he could only say with his dead pan,straight face delivery and subtle humor. There is the conventional ufo/alien hunter played by John Goodman, and the typical human victim played very well by Annette Bening. Overall, an interesting and entertaining movie. The script/plot could have been lifted from one of those B-Movie, soft porn flicks shown on Cinemax after midnight, but under the helm of Mike Nichols,with a script from Shandling, and a first rate cast, it is brought to another level. It is a decent sci fi/satirical comedy.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Movie
Review: If you are a Gary Shandling fan, this movie is a must. If you like subtle dry humor, this movie is a must. If you like movies, this movie is a must.
Rating: 
Summary: An Interstellar Comedy
Review: In order to really enjoy this movie one really has to completely give in to the ludrious plot. But see, that's the problem, we're asked to accept a little to much. I tried just sitting back and trying to go along with everything. And I must admit I did laugh at some moments. And thought that all of the characters were fun to watch, which include Annette Bening, John Goodman, Greg Kinnear, Linda Fiorentino, and Ben Kingsley, but I honestly feel Shandling was wrong for the movie. With a movie like this, considering the plot, you really need more slapstick humor I think. And Shandling is not known for his great rang as a phyiscal comedian. His comedy is more verbal, and if your going to play a space alien, you really need more phyiscal comedy. A lot of the jokes should come from the way he tried to "fit in". This is where the phyiscal comedy was needed. We should of been laughing at the way he went about picking up women. Instead we hear him using wisecracks and actually picking up women! Which all seemed out of character. It's kind of easy for me to see why this Mike Nichols' comedy flopped. Don't expect to much from this movie. Yes, it has some laughs, and I know, it's not meant to be taken serious, who in their right mind could take this seriuosly. But, it just doesn't build up to what could of been. This could of been a crazy, silly comedy. Something in the tradition of "Sleeper". Rent this if there's nothing better to get.
Rating:
Summary: Good Fun
Review: Intentionally derivative and utterly hilarious, 'What Planet Are You From?' follows Garry Shandling as an alien with buzzing genitals whose task is to impregnate a human female with an end to total domination of the planet earth. How this is ever to be brought about by producing a human offpsring remains unclear, though Annette Bening's six week gestation period would suggest our alien friends are capable of rapid action. The whole cast of this thing is in fine form, especially John Goodman as an intrepid FAA agent determined to bring an end to Air Arizona's misuse by Shandling & Co who routinely use their flights as a landing facility, as well as Ben Kingsley's Planetary Leader, at once camp, fifties-British and wholly ridiculous. This mightn't be everyone's cup of tea, but anyone who says the yanks can't do irony should watch it. It's very funny.
Rating:
Summary: Criminally Underrated
Review: Mike Nichols; Gary Shandling; Annette Bening; Ben Kingsley; John Goodman; Greg Kinnear...Some may look at this list of utterly-undeniably talented people and expect great achievement, while others may anticipate a too-many-cooks effect. Whatever *you* expect from What Planet Are You From? I can tell you one thing; Let this be the only review you read!! I have read countless reviews of this film, such as Roger Ebert's One-Star one-note write up (in which he sounds as if he wishes he wrote the film), The SF Examiner's feeble complaint and Time Magazine's bile explosion in paragraph form, and they all nitpicked the film to death while ignoring the beauty of it all. Some focused on the 'buzzing penis' gag which leads me to believe they only screened previews and slept through the actual film. Yet others complained that Gary Shandling isn't sexy and shouldn't have starred in the title role. Uhhh... OK, lets cast Fabio, for his looks and great comedic timing. I've seen plenty of movies, many of them comedies, and this one ranks with some of the best. I feel the casting was inspired across the board and features one of Greg Kinnear's best performances as a slimy womanizing cretin. Shandling is stellar as always, seeming to have an endless supply of one-liners and expressions for any situation. Annette Bening is possibly the best actress of her generation, and this performance clinches it. I'll bring it into focus for you: it's a comedy of manners featuring a procreation-obsessed alien and a sex/relationship-disfunctional planet. The script is a Shandlingesque miracle and the performances are perfect. The film mixes universal truths about the human condition and truly funny situations which could have been clichés but were saved by the sly screenplay. I don't know what the negative reviewers were expecting, but I got exactly what I thought I would: gifted actors and a fantastic director making what should have been a huge hit. Unfortunately, it seems that the prejudices and laziness of reviewers have sent this great movie to the bargain bin. See it today.
Rating: 
Summary: Appallingly unfunny
Review: Not one laugh to be found in this dreary Garry Shandling mistake about an alien who's sent to earth to produce progeny. Plays like a headon collision between an Elaine May skit and kindergarten sandbox humor. The main gag here is how Shandling's character apparently has a windup penis. If you find that funny, by all means pick up this dud; everyone else stand clear.
Rating:
Summary: Way Too funny, Not for younger children
Review: Ok I heard this was, very funny so I rented it I loved it the starting made me laugh although I should say it's not for younger kids, Garry Shandling was very funny, a alien well totell you adults you'll like it i did enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: I beg to differ
Review: On a recent airplane trip from England I watched this movie and found it so funny and clever that I watched it a second time. When I got home I told my wife about it and a couple days ago we watched it together (my 3rd viewing in less than a week!) She also thought it was wonderful. Wondering what film critics thought, I checked out their reviews on the web. Wow, this film was almost universally panned. Now I am perplexed. Other than liking Ishtar my tastes are pretty mainstream. So how can I feel that this is one of the best films I have seen this year, while most critics have questioned why it was even made? You may want to rent this one before you buy.
Rating:
Summary: Funny Interplanetary Cultural Farce
Review: On this remarkably clever farce of the primeval fear of the foreigner, Gary Shandling plays an alien from a planet of men who is sent to impregnate an earth woman. The premise itself is not utterly original or convincing if you ignore the social context in which this movie was made. Late 90s saw a groundswell of grassroots paranoia against the "others" in the society, immigrants, gays, and even government agents who refused to settle in one place, who lead decisively abnormal livestyles in comparison to American people at large. In 1990s, California passed the notorious anti-immigrant proposition 98, depriving healthcare benefits from illegal immigrants and their dependants, as violence against gays skyrocketed, right-wing paramilitants militated, setting up training camps to carry out terrorist attacks against government officials throughout the country. A string of movies made during that period played into this sense of uneasiness and paranoia. Independence Day, Starship Troopers, and Armageddon materialized the other by casting it into the unknown, turning the other, which had been highly specific and localized in certain segments of society up to that point, into a metaphor of universal terror, while on television screens The X-Files was uncovering a trail of deceit and lies involving a complex web of relationships between government officials and alien beings. In its amusing, insignificant way, What Planet Are You From? covers the same turf, depicting an intrusive, but lovable alien, Harold Anderson (Gary Shandling) who is chased by the John Goodman's uber-vigilante. However, What Planet Are You From? is different than the other movies in the genre in one fundamental way. A typical alien movie ends with the alien captured and alien invasion repelled temporarily, a triumph of American might over the foreign invasion force. WPAYF bucks the convention in its unorthodox finish: instead of returning to his home planet, Harold opts to get married to Suzan,( Annette Benning) and become a model father to their son. He becomes "Americanized" in a way, a paradigm of American values, family, devotion and parochiality-because by getting married and settling down he forsaked his intergalactic roots. While paying homage to American values WPAYF also emphasizes their universality. For that reason, and merely for that reason, WPAYF is a nice addition to our culture.
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