Patrick Wilson And Liv Tyler Deliver R-Rated Laughs In Spoofy Space Station 76 Trailer
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A good comedy trailer will often make me laugh at least once, but it takes a rare jewel of a preview to provoke a guttural “Shit yeah!” while slapping whatever happens to be nearby. (In this case, a brush against my desk.) Spitting in the face of traditional Hollywood comedies is the spoofish Space Station 76, the feature directorial debut from seasoned comedy actor Jack Plotnick. These are the coolest daddios and daddiettes in space, cat.
With an intentional B-movie approach, Space Station 76 looks like it comes from the same school of genre send-ups as Black Dynamite and Wet Hot American Summer, with the laughs coming not from overcooked scenarios but with lo-fi gags and offbeat performances. Patrick Wilson stars as Captain Glenn, the mustached head honcho on the Omega 76, a space station just hanging around in 1970s outer space. He and his crew are taken aback when a new assistant captain arrives…
…and it’s a woman! Liv Tyler’s Jessica, to be precise. It doesn’t look like the captain and his crew — which is made up of White Collar‘s Matt Bomer, Marisa Coughlan (Super Troopers), and Jerry O’Connell (Sliders) — want to get rid of her, as they seem to be rather infatuated by her. Especially the boobs and butt parts of her.
So it doesn’t appear that the story will be exceptionally complicated, or harder to follow than a Where’s Waldo? book, but that’s fine by me. A simple story is all the better to layer jokes atop. While this may look to some like it’s in the vein of Anchorman, I can’t imagine this will be anywhere as loud and obnoxious. Will Ferrell would ruin this movie. That said, I’ve only seen this trailer, so it’s perfectly plausible that it becomes over-boorish, but that’s not how it it was presented when the film premiered at Sundance.
There are several sexually suggestive things happening in the trailer — it seems like Bomer’s robot hand has a mind and penis of its own — and the rating card at the beginning of the trailer says that Space Station 76 contains “graphic nudity.” Yowzah! I’m guessing this means we get to see Jerry O’Connell’s balls. In any case, that should stop anyone from calling this a “cheap Galaxy Quest.” Would anyone call it that? Plus, this movie has a small robot voiced by co-writer Michael Stoyanov, whom you might remember as Tony from Blossom.
Unfortunately, Space Station 76 hasn’t been granted a release date from Sony just yet. Let’s hope distribution companies don’t ignore her like everyone ignores Kylie Rogers’ character.
