What Planet Are You From

Welcome to The Gag, a running joke based on the necessity for an interplanetary impregnator from an asexual all-male race (Garry Shandling) to use an artificial organ--one that hums when he is aroused. What's amazing about that one gag is that Shandling manages to make it work so long and with so many variations in this part high-concept comedy, part broad farce and part exploration of male-female dynamics. Director Mike Nichols unruly effort, which co-stars Oscar nominee Annette Bening, bounces between subplots in a ragged, scattershot fashion, but it's also very, very funny, combining razor-sharp dialogue, subtle bits of physical acting, and predictable sight gags with unpredictable twists (even the warmer moments of gentle character humor work). Although it crashed and burned miserably at the box office, this messy, entertaining comedy takes even the silliest concepts and makes them...well, hum. Recommended. (S. Renshaw)