Evolution

Two Arizona college instructors (David Duchovny, Orlando Jones) find an alien life form on a newly fallen meteor—and it’s evolving so fast it could conquer the world in a few weeks. Director Ivan Reitman’s latest film is an unabashed hybrid of his greatest hits: Duchovny in the Bill Murray role from Ghostbusters, Jones as the Will Smith of Men in Black. Reitman’s direction is spirited, but he’s saddled with a listless, haphazard script (by David Diamond, David Weissman and Don Jakoby) that’s little more than a concept and doesn’t bother to hang together—in the end, it’s just a 2-hour commercial for Head & Shoulders shampoo. Duchovny’s deadpan acting slows the pace, while Jones compensates by overplaying everything. Julianne Moore is wasted in the thankless role of a gorgeous scientist.