Earth Girls Are Easy

Directed by Julien Temple, Earth Girls Are Easy follows dimwitted manicurist Valerie Gail (Geena Davis) as she finds herself caring for the three aliens (Jeff Goldblum’s Mac, Jim Carrey’s Wiploc, and Damon Wayans’ Zeebo) that have crash-landed in her swimming pool. It’s a larger-than-life premise that’s employed to affable yet mostly forgettable effect by Temple, as the filmmaker, working from Julie Brown, Charlie Coffey, and Terrence E. McNally’s screenplay, delivers a briskly-paced comedy that’s been augmented with a whole host of appealing elements – including Davis’ personable turn as the likeable protagonist and a proliferation of better-than-expected musical numbers. The pervasively bubbly atmosphere does, however, result in a picture that suffers from its fair share of demonstrable lulls (ie it’s all just so relentlessly light), and it’s clear, ultimately, that Earth Girls Are Easy is unable to sustain its breezy feel for the duration of its palpably padded-out 100-minute running time. By the time the feel-good conclusion rolls around, Earth Girls Are Easy has confirmed its place as a just-good-enough endeavor that essentially evaporates from one’s mind minutes after the credits have rolled.

**1/2 out of ****