The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Garth Jennings, 2004, UK, USA, Colour, 109 mins, Certificate: PG
On May 25 is Towel Day – celebrating all things Douglas Adams all over the world.
We join the celebrations a day after, in collaboration with Kirkdale Bookshop (from where you can purchase a copy of the book and get a discounted ticket!) with the extraordinary film rendition of his cult classic original 1978 BBC Radio 4 comedy broadcast, that subsequently birthed stage shows, novels, comic books, a 1981 TV series and a 1984 text-based computer game adaptations!
A wonderfully unlikely and surreal blend of science fiction and comedy it recounts the story of Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman), who is having a very bad morning, as he is informed of Earth’s impending doom from a friend who is actually an alien and is whisked away off planet at the last moment. What follows is a – in every meaning of the word – trip around the Galaxy that resembles nothing you’ve every seen before or could have imagined.
With an all star cast from both sides of the Atlantic (Sam Rockwell, Bill Bailey, Stephen Fry, Helen Mirren, Kelly McDonald, Zooey Deschanel, John Malkovich, Alan Rickman!) and a thesaurus of quotable lines, this is a must see!
★★★★★ “Mostly harmless. A very British, very funny sci-fi misadventure that’s guaranteed to win converts. Want to go to The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe now, please.” William Thomas, Empire
“Whimsical, low-tech and doggedly British in tone despite Tinseltown touches, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” reps the long-planned movie version of scribe Douglas Adams’ cult story of interstellar hitchhikers.” Leslie Felperin, Variety
★★★ “Monty Python meets Star Wars having already spawned a cult as a series of books, radio shows and a 1981 TV series, Hitchhiker finally thumbs a hot ride to the big screen… Even when the PG film plays it safe, the script by Karey Kirkpatrick and Adams himself delivers the goods in inspired lunacy.” Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
“While Adams wouldn’t have tripped over any of the problems with wide-eyed reverence for his work if he had been able to see the script to fruition, the end result is a deeply unusual film, more than buzzwords like ‘quirky’ or ‘zany’ can encapsulate, with moments of real brilliance…” Mark Harrison, Den of Geek