Review of Starman (1984) by Dan B — 20 Dec 2010

Starman doesn't really seem like a John Carpenter film...It's a cloying, sentimental flick that borrows heavily from early sci-fi efforts from Spielberg.

Carpenter's usually adept at puting his spin on genre pictures but this take on the alien invasion genre seems dialed in. Starman features the stock plot of the good, peaceful alien whose inevitably misunderstood by the angry, violent government but still managing to make a meaningful connection with humanity before he departs. As a fish out of water comedy too it's also broad and predictable and Jeff Bridges never really seems at ease in the main role.