Evolution

"Coming to wipe that silly smile off your planet."

2001 1h 42m EN

😐

6.1

MID

★6.1TMDB · 2,604

ComedyScience FictionAction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A comedy that follows the chaos that ensues when a meteor hits the Earth carrying alien life forms that give new meaning to the term "survival of the fittest." David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, and Julianne Moore are the only people standing between the aliens and world domination... which could be bad news for the Earth.

“Coming to wipe that silly smile off your planet.”

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Cast

David Duchovny
Dr. Ira Kane
Julianne Moore
Dr. Allison Reed, CDC
Orlando Jones
Prof. Harry Phineas Block
Seann William Scott
Wayne Grey
Ted Levine
General Russell Woodman
Ty Burrell
Colonel Flemming
Ethan Suplee
Deke
Michael Bower
Danny

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ivan Reitman
Writers: Don Jakoby, David Weissman, David Diamond
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $80M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

25 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CAST

Did you know

256+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ivan Reitman, shot by Michael Chapman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by John Powell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Wendy Greene Bricmont shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

David Duchovny and Julianne Moore and Orlando Jones carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Coming to wipe that silly smile off your planet.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ivan Reitman directs. Michael Chapman behind the camera. John Powell scores. Wendy Greene Bricmont cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $80M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
225 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3256+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
4Directed by Ivan Reitman, shot by Michael Chapman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by John Powell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Wendy Greene Bricmont shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7David Duchovny and Julianne Moore and Orlando Jones carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Coming to wipe that silly smile off your planet.".
9IMDB entry: tt0251075 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 12 themes, including "governor", "fire engine", "giant monster", "grand canyon".
11Released under 18 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Michael Chapman
Original score: John Powell
Editing: Wendy Greene Bricmont
Production design: J. Michael Riva
Costume design: Aggie Guerard Rodgers
Makeup / hair: Christopher Allen Nelson
VFX supervisor: Phil Tippett
Sound: Dennis Sands
Stunt coordinator: Thomas Robinson Harper
Runtime: 102 min · 1h 42m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $80,000,000
Box office: $98,376,292
Return: 123% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Evolution (2001)

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Ivan Reitman

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John Chard2019-10-01
★ 7/10
Lubricant and the giant product placement. A meteorite falls to Earth and lands right in the desert at Glen Canyon, Arizona. Two college professors, Dr. Ira Kane and Prof. Harry Phineas Block, take it upon themselves to investigate and mooch around. At the site, they discover worm like insects that are not of this world. Thinking they are on to Nobel Prize type history, they are dismayed when the government takes over the site and shunts them out the way. But as the insects start to evolve in the Earth atmosphere, they take on various shapes and forms of alien creatures. Pretty soon the whole place is over run and the government is at a loss in how to stop them. Enter Ira, Harry, Wayne and Allison to hopefully save the day. Directed by Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters 1 & 2), Evolution is a zany sci-fi comedy that achieves firmly what it sets out to do. Using the available special effects for great rewards, and lashing it in Technicolor, all that remained was to have a cast happy to be in on the joke itself. Up step David Duchovny (revelling in none serious X Files malarkey), Orlando Jones (getting all the best lines), Julianne Moore (accident prone) and Sean Wiillian Scott (goofball fireman wannabe). Backed up by Ted Levine, Dan Ackroyd, Ethan Suplee and Ty Burrell, pic is well served right across the cast list. Of course they aren't asked to do anything special, but it's not that kind of film. There's enough here for all the family to enjoy, kids will be awed by the array of alien creatures, whilst the adults should be chuckling away at some of the jokes. If you are expecting real science then you have come to the wrong place, Evolution parodies the sci-fi parodies, and then some. 7/10
CinemaSerf2024-06-06
★ 6/10
"Ira" (David Duchovny) and "Harry" (Orlando Jones) are local college professors who go to investigate a meteor landing near their American town. When they get there, though, they discover it's riddled with strange looking creepy-crawlies that don't look at all indigenous. It's not long before the army shows up and these two are kicked off the project by an wholly incompetent "Gen. Woodman" (Ted Levine) and proper scientist "Allison" (Julianne Moore) - an ex of "Ira" who relishes sticking the knife in. As these beasties start to grow in number and size and become more menacing, the state governor "Lewis" (Dan Aykroyd) demands that the army takes action - but what can they do? Napalm? Meantime, our two intrepid scientists and their buddy "Wayne" (Seann William Scott) are working on a more "direct" approach to thwarting the expansion of our menacing alien visitors. At times it's quite a good laugh and some effort has gone into creating some squelchy and sticky monsters. There are even some hungry blue apes and SWS does a good job trying to tunelessly serenade one in the mall, but the rest of this is not especially original and the whole thing really relies too heavily on "Jones" to bring us some predictably comedy whilst Duchovny and Moore fall rather flat amidst a sea of not so subtle advertising. It's watchable and quite good fun, though, just not a film you'll remember.