The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Including Life, the Universe and Everything

At some point in their life, every person has wondered what their purpose in life is. Questions involving why humans are on Earth, what they are supposed to do with their lives and whether there is more to life than what meets the eye have wandered through many minds without really producing a definitive answer. But it is likely that a definitive answer does not exist; or in fact, a definitive answer is not really needed to carry on with life. And that is the point made in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Arthur Dent rises one morning to a rude awakening that his house is to be demolished immediately to make way for a bypass. In denial but unable to do anything about the situation, Arthur is dragged off to a pub by his friend Ford Prefect under the pretext of having a pint of beer before the world comes to an end. Ford confesses to being an alien from a neighbouring planet and a journalist who is commissioned to complete writing The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Reluctant to believe him, Arthur gets dragged along and finds himself on an alien ship with planet Earth reduced to dust. An altercation with their host results in them being evacuated and picked up by the Heart of Gold, a ship stolen by the President of the Universe and Ford’s semi half-brother, Zaphod Beeblebrox. Also on board are Marvin the Paranoid Android and Tricia McMillian aka Trillian, a human who Arthur knew from his days back on Earth and who becomes his love interest. Together the collective travel the galaxy in search of the true question to life, the universe and everything that will be a suitable match for the answer 42.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was directed by Garth Jennings and released in 2005. It is adapted from a novel of the same name which was written by Douglas Adams, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film. The franchise includes the original novel, the film and several other spinoffs that arose after the original book was published. The film can be easily identified as science fiction with elements of fantasy spun into it, but the comedy in the film is a standout which cannot be ignored.

The actors have been cast excellently considering they fit perfectly into the style of their respective characters. The biggest challenge for the actors and the director in the film would have been to convey the deadpan style of humour which is unique to this franchise and incredibly difficult to recreate. As such, the film is a credit to the franchise and has been done well. The film does not attempt to raise questions and then solve them, it pokes fun at the idea of having an answer to everything we do in life and the constant need to rectify thoughts and actions with an ultimate purpose to one’s existence.

The tongue-in-cheek jokes that come up every now and then can be hilarious once understood in context. A constantly depressed robot saves the lives of a group of people by depressing their attackers, a Vogon’s preferred form of torture is to read poetry and a whale has just come into existence in free-fall unaware of what he is supposed to feel; certain moments such as these are truly hilarious and well done in the film. The superimposing of Arthur’s house being destroyed to make way for a national bypass and then his entire planet being destroyed to make way for a galactic bypass blends both tragedy and comedy, a rare occurrence in any film. Even the misfortune involving the President of the Galaxy ordering a planet to be destroyed when he thinks he is signing an autograph is a ridiculous moment which is then exaggerated because the same planet happens to be the most important in the galaxy that was created with a purpose of solving the ultimate question.

The film is mostly comedy mixed with science fiction. Few elements of romance crop up during the course of the film but it is overall a very good deadpan humour-based comedy film.

Seven Psychopaths: A story about seven psychopaths in a story

One of the best forms of humour is deadpan. Deadpan is the ability to keep a straight face when making fun of a person or a situation. It involves a huge amount of self control not to laugh when making a joke and is mostly seen on stage, performed by a few good stand-up comics. When it comes to film, deadpan requires a really good actor to be able to bring about the humour to make his audience laugh while acting out the scene with a certain level of seriousness. It can be extremely difficult to achieve if the right actor and the right direction are not in place.

Marty is a writer who lacks inspiration to finish off his masterpiece – a screenplay for a film called Seven Psychopaths. He lives with his girlfriend Kaya who is supportive but has grown tired of his procrastination, his drinking habit and his deadbeat friend Billy. A struggling actor, Billy works with an elderly man named Hans to kidnap dogs in Los Angeles and return them to their owners for a cash prize. Billy is also aiding Marty finish his screenplay and suggests he use inspiration from real life after reading newspaper reports on the Jack of Diamonds killer in the area. On one of their routine kidnappings, Billy and Hans pick up a Shih Tzu unaware that it belongs to Charlie Costello, a gangster who is known for being unpredictable and terribly violent towards his victims. Charlie has an unnatural affinity towards his dog and starts a bloody trail to find it. Marty is confronted by Charlie and warned to return the dog or face his death. When Marty reveals this to Billy, they set up for a final showdown where it’s kill or be killed.

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths is about a story running within the main story of the film. There is a certain ambiguity in the plot especially with the constant discussion of a screenplay that the protagonist is writing. The story-in-story concept doesn’t quite work for the film as it complicates the plot and confuses the audience. The protagonist writing a story which interjects with his personal life and comes from his written work into his real life leaves a few questions about the coincidental situations he faces; an example would be where Marty writes a story about a Quaker who slits his throat which presents itself in the form of his best friend’s associate. The seven psychopaths in the film are not who they seem to be. The psychopaths would presumably be from the screenplay that Marty is writing but here again they exist both in his literary work as well as his real life.

While Colin Farrell plays the lead role and provides a level-headed personality to his character, he ends up being a balance as opposed to Sam Rockwell’s portrayal of the zany accomplice who creates more problems than he solves. Christopher Walken is entrusted with providing the deadpan humour that he is capable of and it does come across in the film at times, but the sensitive side of his character takes away from the humour and makes the line between seriousness and deadpan difficult to comprehend. Woody Harrelson as the antagonist does a decent job as a hard man with a sensitive side of his own but struggles with bringing the comedy to the film.

The humour doesn’t come across in the film perfectly. There are instances when it does play well as a comedy but not at all times.