Evolution (2001)

A fire-fighting cadet, two college professors, and a geeky but sexy government scientist work against an alien organism that has been rapidly evolving since its arrival on Earth inside a meteor.

Director:

Ivan Reitman

Writers:

Don Jakoby (story), David Diamond (screenplay)

Stars:

David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Julianne Moore

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
David Duchovny	...	Ira
Julianne Moore	...	Allison
Orlando Jones	...	Harry
Seann William Scott	...	Wayne
Ted Levine	...	Gen. Woodman
Ethan Suplee	...	Deke
Michael Bower	...	Danny (as Michael Ray Bower)
Pat Kilbane	...	Officer Johnson
Ty Burrell	...	Flemming
Dan Aykroyd	...	Governor Lewis
Katharine Towne	...	Nadine
Gregory Itzin	...	Cartwright
Ashley Clark	...	Lt. Cryer
Michelle Wolff	...	Carla
Sarah Silverman	...	Denise

Storyline

When a meteorite falls to Earth two college professors, Dr. Ira Kane and Prof. Harry Phineas Block, are assigned the job of checking the site out. At the site, they discover organisms not of this planet. Soon the site is taken over by the government, forcing Ira and Harry to the side. As the new life-forms begin to evolve and start to get more and more dangerous, it's up to the two professors to save the planet.

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Plot Keywords:

shampoo | alien | chase | hero | helicopter | 

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Taglines:

Coming to wipe that silly smile off your planet.

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Genres:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, and for sci-fi action

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 June 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Evolution

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,408,351, 10 June 2001

Gross USA:

$38,345,494

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$98,376,292

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks, The Montecito Picture Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lorraine Bracco were considered for the role of Dr. Allison Reed.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 16 mins) Towards the end of the movie, when they first show the party at the College, they show the Jeep is clearly parked and no-one is in it. In the next scene the characters are shown rolling up and parking at the college.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[At night, Wayne drives out to a shack in the desert and places a mannequin inside it. He is wearing a yellow fireman's coat, without a fire department's name on it]
Wayne Grey: Despite all the warnings, she was smoking in bed, fell asleep. Bad move.
[He sloshes gasoline inside the shack and strikes a match]
Wayne Grey: And the fire begins. Showtime!
[Hollering in fake excitement, he charges into the shack]
Wayne Grey: Don't worry, ma'am, I'm here to save you!
[...]

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Crazy Credits

There is an item 'Stunt Primate'

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Alternate Versions

The DreamWorks logo starts the film in the North American versions; the version released in Europe and Asia has the Columbia Pictures logo at the beginning.

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Connections

References Soul Train (1971)

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Soundtracks

Borderline
Written by Josh Todd (as Joshua Todd), Jonathan 'JB' Brighman (as Jonathan Brightman), Keith Nelson & Devon Glenn
Performed by Buckcherry
Courtesy of DreamWorks Records

User Reviews

This is Under-rated!

While this film is far from a masterpiece, Evolution deserves better ratings than it currently enjoys here at IMDb. The cast and crew contribute superior work, and the storyline is quite inventive. The premise has been done a few times before, however, it has never been done quite as well as the treatment it receives here.

Alien spores land here on Earth and begin to wreak havoc.

I found this highly entertaining, cleverly witty, with a slick production quality which tends to draw in the audience, who finds its members laughing, sometimes in spite of themselves. You won't WANT to like this. There is a large amount of juvenile humor, which usually would detract from a work such as this, but this is a sci-fi comedy that WORKS.

Again, it's no masterpiece, but it IS clever and fun, in spite of the sophomoric humor.

It rates a 7.3/10 from...

the Fiend :.