JP Nunez
I love to laugh. In particular, I love to laugh at things like aliens and monsters, so when I first got wind of Invaders from Proxima B, I was instantly intrigued. The trailer promised a hilarious sci-fi romp about an extraterrestrial who looks like he could be Oscar the Grouch’s long-lost brother, so I knew I had to check this movie out. I requested a screener as soon as I got the chance, and I couldn’t wait to see what sidesplitting antics this ET would get up to.
Invaders from Proxima B was written and directed by Ward Roberts, and he also stars in the film along with Samantha Sloyan, Sarah Lassez, Mike C. Nelson, Richard Riehle, Bo Roberts, and Jeremiah Birkett. When the movie begins, Howie Jankins is a musician who just got home to his wife and daughter, and the three couldn’t be happier. However, their life changes drastically when a meteor crashes in their backyard.
Howie goes to check it out and finds that it’s actually a spaceship flown by an alien named Chuck. According to this ET, all life on Earth is in mortal danger, so he needs to swap bodies with Howie to save the planet. Despite some initial hesitance, the guy eventually acquiesces, and soon afterward, a whole bunch of hijinks ensue when his family receives a couple of unwanted visitors.
If you’re like me, that premise sounds just about irresistible. A sci-fi comedy about a body-swapping alien should be right up my alley, but unfortunately, the execution in Invaders from Proxima B simply isn’t up to par. Granted, it’s not all bad, but the cons ultimately outweigh the pros.
Let’s start with the good. Hands down, the best thing about Invaders from Proxima B is its three central performances. Howie and his family are all played wonderfully, and I was especially impressed with Writer/Director Ward Roberts. He’s Howie in the film, and he essentially plays two roles. When he’s just Howie, he’s totally believable as a loving father and husband who also struggles with his work/life balance, and there are even a few times when he successfully pulls off a bit of Bruce Campbell-esque physical comedy.
However, when Roberts has to play Chuck in Howie’s body, he’s a completely different person. He exudes the kind of confidence Howie only wishes he had, but he also gives the character an appreciable “fish out of water” vibe. He even takes on Chuck’s accent, which just so happens to make him sound like a native New Yorker. It’s simply an excellent performance all around, so he’s clearly the star of the show here.
When we turn to Howie’s family, they’re not given nearly as much to do, but actresses Samantha Sloyan and Bo Roberts are still totally convincing in these roles. In particular, I was really surprised by Bo Roberts. She plays Howie’s daughter and she’s miles ahead of your typical hit-or-miss child actor. She totally nails every line she has to say and every vibe she has to convey, so I’m really interested to see where her career goes from here.
Unfortunately though, once we go beyond those three performances, it’s pretty much all downhill for Invaders from Proxima B. I just didn’t find this movie to be all that funny, and for a comedy, that’s almost always fatal. Sure, the film elicited a few smiles and chuckles from me here and there, but by and large, these jokes simply fell flat.
See, the majority of the humor in this movie comes from the Jankins’ unwanted visitors, and I didn’t like any of them. For example, there’s an exterminator who seems to think that the vermin he dispatches are actually demons, and his schtick is more grating than anything else.
Similarly, there’s a hippie wannabe influencer named Ester Terrestrial who pops up every now and then, and for most of the film’s runtime, she seems like a completely throwaway character. To be fair, she does end up playing a bigger role than I expected, but by the time she came to the fore, I had simply lost interest in her.
But hands down, the biggest side characters in Invaders from Proxima B are Marvin and Willy, a father/son duo who work for an organization that feels like the dollar store version of the Men in Black. As you might be able to guess, everything about these guys, from their seemingly homemade equipment to their embarrassing family banter, gives off the kind of blisteringly uncool vibe that’s supposed to be hilarious, but they end up feeling like characters we’ve seen way too many times before.
Last but not least, we have to talk about Chuck. Aside from the Jankins family, he’s definitely the best character in Invaders from Proxima B, but he’s not as funny as I expected him to be. This ET has a novel charm that grabs you the first few times you see him, but it wears off fairly quickly. Once you get used to seeing a muppet talk in a raspy voice with a New York accent, he just starts to feel like a one-trick pony, and in a film with so many other mediocre characters, that’s simply not going to cut it.
So at the end of the day, I’m sad to report that I wouldn’t recommend Invaders from Proxima B. Sure, it has a few redeeming qualities, like the Jankins family and some of the humor, but on the whole, I was pretty disappointed by this movie. It’s not nearly funny enough, and as most film fans know, that flaw is just about impossible for a comedy to overcome.
Invaders from Proxima B will be available exclusively on Fandango at Home on May 31.
