CS Daily Archive > Weekend Read > 04/29/05

Hitching a Good Ride

By Jeff goldsmith

Earthman Arthur Dent thought he was having a bad day when he learned that his house is scheduled for demolition. But his day gets even worse when he learns that his planet, coincidentally, is also scheduled for demolition. Thus begins the interstellar adventure of an everyman hero who's simply along for the ride.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams and Karey Kirkpatrick
Based on the Novel by Douglas Adams

In the course of one day Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) learns that his best friend is an alien, his house is going to be demolished, and so is his planet. Once Arthur ditches Earth with his friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def), he begins a series of adventures through space with a colorful group of characters that befriend him. Their travels vary greatly but ultimately focus on a quest to find out the answer to that age-old question of "Life, The Universe, and Everything."

Don't Panic. No one could ever truly do the book justice; it's too brilliant as a book to ever work 100% on the screen. That said, this team did a solid and respectful job adapting it for the screen. If the hardcore fan boys of Douglas Adam's excellent five-book series can put away their drool cups long enough to give the film a chance, they just might dig it.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy captures about 80 percent of the most beloved parts from the book and throws in a few new set pieces that generally deliver as well. This film has been anticipated ever since Adams first wrote it as a radio-play for the BBC in 1978, a best-selling novel in 1979, and then a TV series in 1981. Even after the books sold more than 15 million copies, it's never been an easy sell for Hollywood simply because Hitchhiker's is so unconventionally funny. It's filled with outright silliness and hilarious non-sequiturs that don't fit into the typical Hollywood comedic formula. Before Adams unexpectedly died in 2001 he had forged a partnership with Austin Powers director Jay Roach that ultimately left Roach as the steward for the property. Roach searched for a writer who could sell Adams' distinctly British style to American audiences, and thus screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick (Chicken Run) was hired.

Kirkpatrick did a great job of infusing both Adams' writing and his soul into the script and deserves credit as such. A critic of the book could cite that it reads as a series of comedic sketches without a concise resolution. Yet the absence of resolution is exactly the point of the book, thus a middle ground was forged when Kirkpatrick wrote new sequences based on Adams' notes to make the tale more filmic. These mainly concern upping the love interest only hinted at in the book. "The emotional story here is about a guy who against all laws of probability gets a second chance," Kirkpatrick says. "That's what the movie is about to me, second chances. I feel we ultimately made the right choices." It was a fair trade-off when considering the far worse road that could have been taken to make the film more accessible. It's also an organic choice, which Adams suggested in his books -- very similar to how in The Lord of the Rings trilogy Aragorn and Arwen's relationship was upped, although it had mainly been played out in the appendices of Tolkien's books.

It's also important to note that the genre of science-fiction satire is still considered a rarity that ranges from well-written works like Dark Star, Buckaroo Bonzai, Spaceballs, and some would even argue The Fifth Element, to more plebian fare like Men in Black. These films aren't made often, and Hitchhiker's strength remains that it was given the breathing room to go for the same hilarious moments that made the book famous, even at the expense of halting the central story in order to do so. It's an interesting lesson for writers when considering the great comedic timing that Adams elicited when, at a critical moment in the central story, all action is halted for a non-sequitur joke. In fact, the film's non-sequiturs make for some of the most memorable moments -- and the riskiest. In particular, one "Missile Attack" sequence really steals the show, as does the omniscient character of The Guide, the voice of the book that occasionally interrupts the film either for narration or for another non-sequitur.

Hitchhiker's isn't by any means perfect, and sadly the blame lies more in the direction than the writing. It would seem that, in order to hedge the studio's bet, this sophisticated comedy skews a bit too much toward nine-year-olds when various characters become more Looney Tunes archetypes than how Adams or Kirkpatrick wrote them. A few classic Guide entries were cut for time, as are some solid jokes that played out even longer and funnier in the book. Also missing was more of the character of Marvin, the paranoid android, who got far less screen time than he deserved.

Newcomers to this tale will definitely get the bang for their buck as they depart on a wild and entertaining ride that should feel like a breath of fresh air in the current marketplace. While some fans will be bummed that certain characters have been zanily re-imagined for the benefit of the kiddies, the sophisticated comedic set-pieces and story still shine through, which makes Hitchhiker's definitely worthy of your hard-earned cash.

Still not convinced? Check out this version of the film's trailer -- possibly one of the best-written trailers in years.

And look for the full Karey Kirkpatrick interview on "Hitchhiker's" in the new "War of the Worlds" issue of Creative Screenwriting Magazine -- hitting mailboxes, bookstores and newsstands as we speak (er, type)!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Touchstone Pictures
Rated PG; 103 min.

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Jeff Goldsmith is senior editor for Creative Screenwriting magazine and serves as the Los Angeles Events Coordinator in charge of the Creative Screenwriting screening series.
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