Coneheads
1993  PG  COMEDY  1h 27min
CAST— Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Michelle Burke, Michael McKean, Jason Alexander, Lisa Jane Persky, Chris Farley, David Spade, Phil Hartman, Dave Thomas, Sinbad, Jan Hooks, Michael Richards, Jon Lovitz, Kevin Nealon, Adam Sandler, Garret Morris, Laraine Newman, Tim Meadows, Julia Sweeney, Ellen DeGeneres, Parker Posey, Joey Lauren Adams
MUSIC— David Newman  DIRECTOR— Steve Barron  BASED ON— Characters appearing on Saturday Night Live (television)

     If you were a teenager in the ‘70s, you need no one to tell you who the Coneheads are. But for everyone who wasn’t, like, of that generation, man, maybe a little bit of explanation is needed. The Coneheads were freaks. Maybe a bit more info? Sure. The Coneheads, one of the many sketches on Saturday Night Live, were aliens from the planet Remulak who came to Earth to conquer the planet. They were husband/father Beldar, played by Dan Aykroyd, wife/mother Prymaat, played by Jane Curtin, and daughter Connie, played by Laraine Newman (in the film she’s played by Michelle Burke). They blend in perfectly with Earth-folk, except for… their HEADS! They look like traffic cones (hence the name, perhaps?). Their mannerisms were a bit odd, but they had an excuse: “France. We come from France.” The hilarious sketches were burned into the brains of the American viewing public. From the way they dressed to the way they talked to the way they ate— everyone loved them. By the time this film was made the teens who loved the Coneheads were (hopefully) all responsible adults with teenagers of their own. How time does fly. This film, surprisingly, holds up very well despite the time-gap between now and the Coneheads’ popularity. The plot is very simple: The family crash-lands on Earth and must evade the INS. Before long they find themselves becoming quite human, all things considered. And for a film based on SNL sketches, the PG rating stays pretty much within its range. Many, many past SNL cast member cameos dot the landscape, so if you don’t want to miss any, you better wait to take that bathroom break.
OUR RATING— ***