Garth Jennings
Guida Galattica Per Autostoppisti

THE REVIEW

Few are the very fortunate cases where a film has nothing to envy from the book that inspired it and "generated" it (I'm thinking, off the top of my head, of "The Godfather," "Eyes Wide Shut," "2001: A Space Odyssey," and very few others...).

Well, with all the goodwill in the world (I believe in theirs as actors, producers, directors, etc... and obviously in mine as a viewer), this film is not among those. And that's a shame, if you will, even though it is a widely predictable shame.

Predictable because Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide is indeed an undeniable masterpiece, but incredibly sui generis: full of hilarious ideas, of non-sense (disastrously dated...: how ahead of their time those years were...and how far behind these are, dominated by low-level comedians?), of bursts of imagination and absolute irony.

But how lacking in rhythm and structure it also was? But let's be clear, it wasn't a flaw...it was an "elsewhere." That book was an exception to all the rules of its time and today it would be decidedly more unthinkable, unpublished (but not unsellable...people are less stupid than they're made out to be...) than when it was published. It is obvious that the cinematic rendition could not have been entirely positive, and that it heavily risked being pointless.

The film is made possible (as, mutatis mutandis, but mutatis very very, happened with "The Lord of the Rings") by technological progress...and sooner or later someone will "discover" the feasibility of Asimov's Foundation series...and then it will indeed be a big risk...

But not everything that has become possible is, in fact, to be done.

There are no obligations, there are no torments...that a work remains solely on the written page is not considered a crime anywhere, and sometimes, in this world sick with grotesque mandatory progressivism, one should have the courage to preserve, the courage of the cult of the original which, in this case, certainly deserves more a healthy, solitary, "couchy" reread than a cinematic interpretation.

With that said, it's enjoyable, the film is well-made and rather ridiculous. At times it respects the original literary work even in its intentions (or the supposed ones...). And one might be tempted to say that it can be a good introduction for those who haven't read the book... Do we really say that? Well...personally, I would prefer a world where certain authors, even ironic, playful, minor, and recent ones, were recommended in schools.

Once again...: let's settle for it.