Earth Girls Are Easy

Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 06/17/2003

This late-'80s comedy-musical from video director Julien Temple (Absolute Beginners) has an infectiously buoyant if dumb charm and plays like a cross between Little Shop of Horrors and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. If you loved either of those movies, you'll have a fondness for this one, otherwise you'll be irritated beyond belief. Geena Davis stars as a San Fernando Valley manicurist who finds herself in charge of three aliens after they crash-land their spaceship in her pool. With said transport broken down, Davis offers them head-to-toe makeovers (it's the least she can do), turns the fuzzy aliens into a trio of attractive guys, and lets them loose on the dating scene. She promptly falls in love with the leader (Davis's then-husband Jeff Goldblum); of course, it helps that her slimy fiancé (Charles Rocket) is cheating on her left and right. Aside from its sunny California charm, the only other thing this film has to offer is a bouncy musical score, in particular two show-stopping numbers performed by costar (and the film's cowriter) Julie Brown: "Brand New Girl," in which Davis gets the requisite makeover ("If you want to be a femme fatale / You can't rest on your L'Oreals!"), and the entirely irrelevant but absolutely hilarious cult hit "'Cause I'm a Blonde." Davis does her standard airhead thing (still a novelty in 1989) and Goldblum is a studly if silent lead. Make sure you pay close attention to Goldblum's alien sidekicks, two then-unknown actors named Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans, both of whom manage to steal scenes with surprisingly understated charm. --Mark Englehart