Earth Girls Are Easy
| Earth Girls Are Easy | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Julien Temple |
| Produced by |
Tony Garnett Duncan Henderson Terrence E. McNally |
| Written by |
Julie Brown Charlie Coffey Terrence E. McNally |
| Starring | |
| Music by |
Ray Colcord Nile Rodgers Julie Brown |
| Cinematography | Oliver Stapleton |
| Edited by | Richard Halsey |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Vestron Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million (estimated) |
| Box office | $3,916,303 |
Earth Girls Are Easy is a 1988 American musical film romantic-comedy science fiction film directed by Julien Temple and stars Geena Davis, Julie Brown, Jeff Goldblum, Damon Wayans, and Jim Carrey.[1] The plot is based on the song "Earth Girls Are Easy" from Julie Brown's 1984 mini-album Goddess In Progress.[2]
Plot
The film begins with three furry aliens—the blue Mac (Goldblum), the yellow Zeebo (Wayans), and the red Wiploc (Carrey)--traveling in a space ship. It's been a long time since they've had female companionship, and they receive a broadcast showing human females. They are titillated by these "hairless", shapely creatures and discover that the broadcast came from Earth, so they set off toward Earth and Southern California.
Valley Girl Valerie Gail (Davis) is a manicurist at the "Curl Up & Dye" hair salon. When she feels her cold fiancé Dr. Ted Gallagher (Charles Rocket) is slipping away, she decides to seduce him with a new look; by dressing up in a white corset, suspenders, underwear, stockings and pink high heels. Instead, she catches him cheating on her with his nurse. She kicks him out, smashes his stuff and refuses to see him again. The next day, she is sunbathing when the aliens' spaceship crash lands in her pool. She befriends them and calls her friend Woody (Michael McKean) to come and drain the pool so the aliens can work on their ship and get it flying again. Meanwhile, she brings them into her home; and, though there is a language barrier at first, the aliens prove to be quick learners and absorb American pop culture and language by watching television.
Wanting them to blend in to their surroundings, Valerie takes them to her friend Candy Pink (Brown, co-writer and co-producer) at the salon. After shaving off the aliens' fur, they turn out to be human looking and attractive. They all go out; and party at Los Angeles nightclubs where their looks, athleticism and incredibly long tongues soon make them the envy of every female in the place. Valerie and Mac begin to fall for each other and go back to Valerie's place. There, they find out that they are anatomically compatible and make love.
The next day the pool is drained, and Zeebo and Wiploc are working on their ship when Woody stops by and offers to take them to the beach. They agree; and, after accidentally holding up a convenience store, Zeebo and Wiploc are soon driving down the L.A. Freeway the wrong way, in reverse, with the police in pursuit.
Mac finds out his crew mates are in trouble and goes to help and gets arrested along with Woody in a case of mistaken identity. Valerie smashes the police vehicle to get arrested, too, so she can go with Mac.
The police pursuit ends in a crash, and Zeebo and Wiploc are taken to the Emergency Room at the local hospital. There, they are examined by Ted, who discovers they have two hearts. While he is envisioning achieving fame and fortune from his discovery, Valerie and Mac elude the police and enter the E.R. disguised as a doctor and a nurse; they manage to convince Ted he is delusional. They then escape back to Valerie's place where work continues on the space ship. Meanwhile, Valerie and Ted reconcile and plan to go to Las Vegas to get married right away.
Mac is heartbroken and prepares the ship for take-off. Valerie comes out to say good-bye, followed by Ted, who discovers the ship. While she is struggling to keep him from calling the authorities, Valerie comes to the realization that it's really Mac she loves. She gets in the ship, and off they head into the sky.
Cast
- Geena Davis as Valerie Gail, a manicurist who lives in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California
- Jeff Goldblum as Mac, the chief alien
- Jim Carrey as Wiploc, an alien
- Damon Wayans as Zeebo, an alien
- Julie Brown as Candy Pink, Valerie's friend and co-worker
- Michael McKean as Woody, Valerie's pool boy, an aging surf bum
- Charles Rocket as Dr. Ted Gallagher, Valerie's philandering fiancé, a medical doctor
- Larry Linville as Dr. Bob
- Rick Overton as Dr. Rick
- Angelyne as herself
Production
Originally the film was slated to go into production in 1986 for Warner Bros. but the studio got cold feet when director Julien Temple's previous film, Absolute Beginners, proved to be a dismal box office failure. The role of Valerie was offered to some of the era's box-office draws such as Madonna and Molly Ringwald, but when they rejected it, WB dropped the project. Several other studios expressed interest in producing the movie, but none wanted Temple to direct. Ultimately French bank Crédit Lyonnais agreed to finance the film with Temple at the helm (if $4 million was shaved off of the film's estimated $14 million budget) and the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group agreed to distribute it.
Principal photography was finally underway in late 1987[4] and Temple brought his own ideas to the table, including peppering the background with then modern sounding pop songs,[5] featuring an homage to The Nutty Professor[6] and using iconic model/actress Angelyne in a brief cameo (the director declared her "the patron Saint of Los Angeles"[6]), but Temple's studious eye for detail caused delays on the set[4] and according to producer Tony Garnett, "The first cut we had of the picture was a problem."[3] The film underwent more than five months of post-production tinkering, including the removal of numerous scenes and the production number "I Like 'em Big and Stupid" (a different version of the song plays in the club; the deleted sequence appears on the DVD extras) and reshoots later commenced (the song "'Cause I'm a Blonde" was injected into the film late in the game), by which time the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group had filed for bankruptcy.[3]
The finished print of the film had several very positive previews, which captured the interest of potential distributors Nelson Entertainment, New World, MGM and 20th Century Fox, but ultimately Vestron Pictures picked up the distribution rights.[3] The film debuted at the Toronto Festival of Festivals in September 1988 and was slated to be released the following February,[3] but legal entanglements delayed its release until May 1989.[7]
Reception
The film received generally mixed, but mostly positive reviews. Roger Ebert concluded, "Earth Girls Are Easy is silly and predictable and as permanent as a feather in the wind, but I had fun watching it."[8] Leonard Maltin called it an "infectiously goofy musical" and went on to cite some "good laughs and an endearing performance by Davis."[9] Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editor George Anderson gushed over the absurdity of the movie, declaring the film "is so cheerful about so many stupid things that you cannot, in good conscience, endorse it, but you may be tempted to adopt it."[10] Some criticized the film for being "less a movie than a stretched-out, padded [music] video."[11] Box office returns were low; the film garnered only a little over a third of the $10 million production cost[12]—but the movie ultimately developed a cult following, mainly due to Jim Carrey's later success as a film comedian, which strongly renewed interest in his earlier films. Earth Girls Are Easy holds a 66% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 32 reviews.
Legacy
The film has inspired American singer Britney Spears and Australian rapper Iggy Azalea's music video for their 2015 song "Pretty Girls". Their video has reached 100 million views on YouTube[13]
Award nominations[14]
- Nominated: Best Film, Julien Temple (1990)
- Nominated: Best Cinematography, Oliver Stapleton (1990)
- Nominated: Worst Supporting Actress, Angelyne (1990) (To note, Angelyne appears in the film for less than two minutes.)
Soundtrack
A soundtrack album was released on vinyl, cassette, and CD[15] by Sire Records on May 9, 1989[16] to coincide with the May 12 release of the film. Most of the songs on the album are different mixes than were heard in the movie, several songs from the film were omitted altogether and Geena Davis's song "The Ground You Walk On" was replaced with a rendition by Jill Jones. The album is out of print.
Royalty's song "Baby Gonna Shake" was issued as a single (available in several formats with numerous remix variations)[17] and Hall & Oates' rendition of "Love Train" was released as a single backed with the film's title song, performed by The N.[18]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Love Train" | Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff | Hall & Oates | 3:45 |
| 2. | "Baby Gonna Shake" | Stephen Bray, Linda Mallah | Royalty | 4:24 |
| 3. | "Hit Me" | Paul Robb | Information Society | 5:08 |
| 4. | "The Ground You Walk On" | Billy Steinberg, Tom Kelly | Jill Jones | 4:15 |
| 5. | "Earth Girls Are Easy" | Julie Brown, Charles Coffey, Terrence McNally, Sterling Smith | The N | 3:43 |
| 6. | "(Shake That) Cosmic Thing" | Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson, Fred Schneider, Keith Strickland | The B-52's | 3:51 |
| 7. | "Route 66 (The Nile Rodgers Mix)" | Bobby Troup | Depeche Mode | 4:09 |
| 8. | "Who Do You Love?" | Ellas McDaniel | The Jesus and Mary Chain | 4:04 |
| 9. | "Throb" | Stewart Copeland | Stewart Copeland | 2:09 |
| 10. | "Brand New Girl" | Julie Brown, Charles Coffey, Dennis Poore | Julie Brown | 3:42 |
| 11. | "'Cause I'm a Blonde" | Julie Brown, Charles Coffey, Dennis Poore | Julie Brown | 2:15 |
Stage show
Beginning on September 16, 2001, there were several staged reading/performances of a musical play version of the film. Based on the movie's screenplay and written by Charlie Coffey and Michael Herrmann, Julie Brown reprised her role of Candy, Kristin Chenoweth took over the role of Valerie, Marc Kudisch assumed the role of Ted and Hunter Foster was cast as Mac. Although costumes and props were utilized, there were no sets and the actors carried their scripts around the stage—these stagings were merely devised to find investors for the show.
The play did not feature any original songs; the performers sang renditions of '80s pop songs along with several numbers from the film. The play followed the film's story and scenes pretty closely, but a lot of new dialogue was written, a few characters were omitted and there were some other slight deviations here and there. Audio and video recordings of the September 30, 2002 staging are circulating, and several video clips from this performance have surfaced on YouTube.
Despite positive reaction, the timing of the initial staging was bad (coming mere days after the September 11 attacks), and even after subsequent readings, the show never attained the investors needed to become a full-blown production.
Cast
- Kristin Chenoweth as Valerie Gail
- Julie Brown as Candy Pink
- Marc Kudisch as Dr. Ted Gallagher
- Hunter Foster as Mac
- Deven May as Wiploc
- Lisa Capps as Nurse/Ensemble
- Roxanne Barlow as Security Guard/Ensemble
- Steve Wilson as Security Guard/Ensemble
Musical numbers
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References
- ↑ James, Caryn (May 12, 1989). "Earth Girls Are Easy (1989) Review/Film; On Shaving, Furry Aliens Turn Into Valley Guys". The New York Times.
- ↑ "Valley Girl Is Only One Shade of Julie Brown". The Los Angeles Times. February 8, 1990.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Rebello, Stephen (November 1988). Grounded By Earth Girls And Lawyers, American Film Magazine. Billboard Publications, Inc. p. 39.
- 1 2 Rochlin, Margy (November 1988). "Has Julien Temple Gone Hollywood?," American Film Magazine. Billboard Publications, Inc. p. 32.
- ↑ Rochlin, Margy (November 1988). "Has Julien Temple Gone Hollywood?," American Film Magazine. Billboard Publications, Inc. p. 35.
- 1 2 Rochlin, Margy (November 1988). "Has Julien Temple Gone Hollywood?," American Film Magazine. Billboard Publications, Inc. p. 38.
- ↑ "Earth Girls Are Easy (1988) - Release Dates". imdb.com. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
- ↑ "Earth Girls Are Easy - rogerebert.com - REVIEWS". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
- ↑ Maltin, Leonard (2005). Leonard Maltin's 2006 Movie Guide. Signet Books. p. 369.
- ↑ "Spacey 'Girls' Easy to Like". news.google.com. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
- ↑ "Deseret News Movie Reviews: Earth Girls Are Easy". deseretnews.com. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
- ↑ "Box office/business for Earth Girls Are Easy". imdb.com. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
- ↑ "Earth Girls Are Easy". mtv.com
- ↑ "Awards". imdb. Retrieved 30th June 2016
- ↑ "SoundtrackCollector: Soundtrack Details: Earth Girls Are Easy". soundtrackcollector.com. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
- ↑ "amazon.com: Earth Girls Are Easy". amazon.com. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
- ↑ "Royalty Discography at Discogs)". discogs.com. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
- ↑ "Hall & Oates Singles 1985-89". hallandoates.de. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
- ↑ "Talkin Broadway: What's New at the Rialto?". talkingbroadway.com. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
External links
- Earth Girls Are Easy at the Internet Movie Database
- Earth Girls Are Easy at AllMovie
- Earth Girls Are Easy at Rotten Tomatoes
- Movie stills at Film.virtual-history.com