Yes, I Did Bring my Towel
I went to see The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy today. Dani was going to come with me, since she was in the area, but she bailed on me at the last minute (sigh). The movie was enjoyable; definitely worth watching. It’s been a long time since I read the books, so thankfully I wasn’t subconsciously comparing every aspect of them.
Undoubtedly, the books were better. But on it’s own it was a pretty good movie. They did a good job at translating the original material to the new format, but unfortunately there’s no way to really convey the absurdity of the books and radio show as a movie. A lot of the jokes were missed by the audience (Trillian saying, “It won’t work on me, I’m already a woman”), and some of the absurdity seems much funnier on paper than it does actually seeing it. It wasn’t as funny as I had hoped, for this reason.
Other than that, though, it was enjoyable. Not the funniest movie I’ve seen, but it drew a few laughs out of me. I have to say, though, that I don’t think someone who hasn’t read the book will get much out of it. And those who’ve read the books recently will probably find the two incomparable. In summary, go see it if you read the book at least two years prior, and aren’t a prick about creative liberties taken during the format conversion.