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by Willie Waffle

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Slither

Sometimes, you just want to see a movie that doesn't take itself too seriously, and Slither is that kind of movie, if you have a strong stomach and an appreciation for late night B-movies.

Elizabeth Banks plays Starla Grant - a beautiful teacher stuck in a small town where her dreams of Hollywood greatness and glamour have been crushed. Instead of marrying Mr. Right, she ended up with a Mr. Barely Passable, Grant Grant (Michael Rooker), and lives in a beautiful mansion with financial security, but no emotional and physical passion. One night, Starla and Grant get into a fight, which drives hubby to a night of drinking, hitting on a local waitress, and wandering off into the forest for some illicit nocturnal naughtiness. Little do the participants know some sort of slug-like aliens have crash landed in the woods of this small town, enter Grant's body, take over his brain and turn him into a monster carrying out their plans for world domination.

Will the police chief, Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion), his deputies and Starla be able to stop Grant before he turns the whole town into his zombie lackeys?

Slither is a campy, goofy, very funny sci fi/horror movie farce. Writer/director James Gunn (a veteran of the Scooby Doo movies, some zombie films and Troma Pictures) knows the genre inside and out, so he wonderfully uses bad dialogue, cheesy special effects and a crazy plot to share the laugh with us as we watch a wacky, unbelievable, mockable movie play out before our very eyes. Our stars say the cliché lines, react just the way you expect, and practically beg the audience to scream out, "don't go in there!" Gunn even makes the gross stuff campy, so you will laugh as you try to keep your popcorn down. Gunn also makes sure the cast is in on the joke, and they make it work.

Fillion, familiar to fans of Serenity and Firefly, is a great leading man with good comic timing and the ability to deliver the funniest lines with the same attitude and dismissiveness as the audience does as we make fun of the absurd situations. For most of the movie, Fillion is earnest as the stereotypical small town cop trying to get down to the bottom of an other worldly mess, but he also delivers a few lines like a guy willing to admit they sound stupid, and should sound stupid. With equal parts macho and down-to-earth, Fillion should be a bigger star, and, hopefully, will be someday.

Banks and Rooker willingly come along for the ride as she plays the cliché gorgeous damsel in distress (and not much dress), while Rooker gives Grant the kind of intensity needed to make him a somewhat imposing villain, without losing sight of the comic value of a guy getting taken over by aliens and slowly turning into a squid-like creature that slithers around (you have to see it to believe it). While many in the supporting cast do a solid job with their roles (especially the director's wife, Jenna "Pam from The Office" Fischer), it's Gregg Henry who stands out in a brilliant performance as the loud mouth foul tempered Mayor who overreacts to everything, even the alien invasion. He makes the Mayor into a total caricature that is very welcome in a movie like this. In many ways, he says and acts the way we in the audience would, and does so with gusto and no fear of what other actors or harsher critics might say.

Slither is not supposed to scare you out of your pants, and it could use a few more laughs, but it is an entertaining half spoof for people looking for something goofy this weekend.

2 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4)

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