"Attack of the 50 foot Woman" was intended as a parody of the 1958 cult classic and in the beginning it does succeed on that level. Dr. Victor Loeb (Paul Benedict) tells his audience, "Everything that you are about to see is true," even though it is hard to imagine someone having the foresight to film the entire unabridged life story of the 50 foot woman, Nancy Archer (Daryl Hannah), including shots of her cheating husband Harry Archer (Daniel Baldwin).
But from the moment that we see Nancy Archer driving down the highway with her car, this movie falls apart. There are gags, but the gags get old and tired very quickly. Daniel Baldwin as mean- spirited, promiscuous husband Harry Archer is funny in a couple of scenes, but annoying in others. The two police officers -- a fat cop and a skinny partner -- engage in banter that is intended to be funny, but what transpires between them does not payoff. This is the pattern throughout the film where one joke after the other is attempted and yet fails to generate any laughs. A part of the reason for the absence of laughs is that the jokes are lacking in any imagination and the other reason is that you can see the gags from a mile away.
A good parody of a fifty foot woman could still be made, but this is not the film that does that. The film-makers seemed to have thought that putting a flying saucer, a fifty foot woman, some fake footage of a town, a mean husband, and two boring police officers would be enough to create a campy comedy. But they were wrong. "Attack of the 50 foot woman" is a primary example of the screenplay simply not being ready for production.
But from the moment that we see Nancy Archer driving down the highway with her car, this movie falls apart. There are gags, but the gags get old and tired very quickly. Daniel Baldwin as mean- spirited, promiscuous husband Harry Archer is funny in a couple of scenes, but annoying in others. The two police officers -- a fat cop and a skinny partner -- engage in banter that is intended to be funny, but what transpires between them does not payoff. This is the pattern throughout the film where one joke after the other is attempted and yet fails to generate any laughs. A part of the reason for the absence of laughs is that the jokes are lacking in any imagination and the other reason is that you can see the gags from a mile away.
A good parody of a fifty foot woman could still be made, but this is not the film that does that. The film-makers seemed to have thought that putting a flying saucer, a fifty foot woman, some fake footage of a town, a mean husband, and two boring police officers would be enough to create a campy comedy. But they were wrong. "Attack of the 50 foot woman" is a primary example of the screenplay simply not being ready for production.