Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie

The writers are comic geniuses, and the experience is so enjoyable that upon viewing This Island Earth's non-MST3K version, a grin will cross your face as you remember this parody masterpiece. Read full review

Mystery Science Theater 3000 restores your faith in an ordered universe, compelling you to reflect that those campy movies from the '50s and '60s did, after all, have a purpose, although it wasn't easy to discern at the time. [19 Apr 1996, p.54]

You still feel that every delirious allusion, every snidely on-the-mark observational quip, is tickling a different part of your cerebral cortex. Yet the movie lacks the manic highs of the show’s best episodes; it’s a bit too rote and becalmed. Read full review

If you're on - or even near - the film's wavelength, it's hilarious. Read full review

As the gags pile up remorselessly, and the viewer strains to keep up with the story line and the cutting subtext, a furious but benign apnea takes hold. You can't enjoy a good long laugh because you'll miss too much. It's the happiest form of internal injury. Read full review

Part of the appeal of the program is in the wisecracking. But the movies themselves are also crucial. They are so incredibly bad that they get laughs twice--once because of what they are, and again because of what is said about them. Read full review

For many, a little of this joking will go a long way; devoted fans, however, will wish for a double-bill. Count me closer to the latter group. Read full review

In a movie theater, at least, there are other people to hear you laugh, and the film of MST3K already seems a more communal, less onanistic experience. Read full review

About a third as funny as it thinks it is. Still, that's pretty funny and about twice as funny as most American comedies these days. Read full review

So, how does movie differ from TV show? The answer is, thankfully, not a lot. Read full review

A flat-out hilarious celebration of B-moviemaking mastery. [19 Apr 1996, p.G06]

Filmmakers take a shotgun approach to comedy, inundating the viewer with wisecracks that, more often than not, don't go over. But those that do still add up to lotsa laughs, and the sheer weight of them eventually builds an atmosphere of mild lunacy that it's useless to resist. Read full review

Helping to make these pleasantries funny is their spur-of-the-moment quality, the same quick spontaneity that characterizes chance remarks overheard at raucous movie houses. Capturing that bright and unexpected quality is what the MST3K crew does best. Too bad that's not all they do. Read full review

The charm of MST3K has always been in its self-mocking, cheap, we-just-threw-it-all-together sort of feel. It's a fun enough way to pass the time. And fans of the TV version of MST3K certainly won't be disappointed. But it would be just as much - if not more - fun watching it in your own living room with a bunch of rowdy pals. Read full review

The show provides a prodigious number of giggles, and it's so short (well under 90 minutes) that you'll have plenty of time to rent the original This Island Earth and test out wisecracks of your own. Read full review

The MST3K folks have gone all-out and found a movie in actual color to lampoon: This Island Earth, a 1954 Universal sci-fier with a no-star cast, low-tech special effects and a logic-defying plot. It's a perfect vehicle for Mike, Servo and Crow to go after - and following a brief prologue that brings MST3K novices up to date, that's exactly what they do. [19 Apr 1996, p.03]

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie is a tough call to recommend for everyone. But for a goofy time laughing at stupid comedy with otherwise intelligent people, it might be just the ticket. Read full review

It doesn't take much imagination to poke fun at the pitiful special effects, goofy '50s he-man behavior and unintentionally hilarious script, but the silliness of the entire concept eventually wears down your defenses - not quite as the evil Dr. Forrester had planned, but effectively nevertheless. You will laugh. Read full review

Couch-potato comedy can't get any lazier than Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, but that counts for most of this film's slender charm. [19 Apr 1996, p.C8]

Whether some jokes were studio-tweaked or others simply failed on their own, MST3K: The Movie feels unmistakably like a compromised product, flattened by the stiff headwinds of mediocrity. Read full review

It's not that the heckling isn't funny -- it is, at least sometimes -- but we just can't stand that smug, superior attitude, predicated on the notion that everything that isn't new and flashy is ipso facto ridiculous. Read full review

They've hit a fatal snag. The feature they selected happens to be a pretty good one -- certainly much better than Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie by just about any criterion one could think of. Read full review

There is no greater significance to these skits than the ones you can see in reruns on Comedy Central. Still, for diehard MiSTies, these shortcomings won't matter. The lure of trashy cinema will prevail along with the strangely gratifying thrill of hearing the traditionally G-rated 'bots indulge in racier, foul-mouthed comments. [10 May 1996, p.6G]

It’s still worth watching at least once, just to see what can go wrong when funny people aren’t allowed to be funny. Read full review

In the theater, whenever Mike, Crow or Tom Servo flub a punchline or resort to a fart joke, you almost want to lean forward and shush them. Read full review