Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, Charles Martin Smith

While most movie buffs are likely to call Halloween the best movie from John Carpenter, others--die-hard romantics and anyone who cried while watching E.T.--might vote in favor of the di...( read more  read more... )rector's 1984 hit Starman. It's easily Carpenter's warmest and most beguiling film, and the only one that ever earned an Oscar nomination. That honor went specifically to Best Actor nominee Jeff Bridges for his performance as an alien visitor to Earth who is knocked off course and must take an interstate road trip to rendezvous with a mothership from his home planet. To complete this journey he assumes the physical form of the dead husband of a Wisconsin widow (Karen Allen) who responds first with fear, then sympathy, and finally love. Carpenter's graceful strategy is to switch the focus of this E.T.-like film from science fiction to a gentle road-movie love story, made believable by the memorable performances of Bridges and Allen. It's a bit heavy-handed with tenacious government agents who view the Starman as an alien threat (don't they always?), but Carpenter handles the action with intelligent flair, sensitivity, and lighthearted humor. If you're not choked up during the final scene, well, you just might not be human. --Jeff Shannon

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61% liked it

18,459 ratings

Critics

78% liked it

23 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 55 min.

Directed by: John Carpenter

Release Date: December 14, 1984

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DVD Release Date: March 6, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (659)


  • September 4, 2009
    Starman: I send greetings.
    Brad Heinmuller: What the hell's going on here?
    Jenny Hayden: I'm being kidnapped!
    Starman: Greetings.
    Brad Heinmuller: You better let her go pal, I'll give you some greetings.

    The issue with many John Carpenter movies are that the characters are u...( read more)sually lacking. This film manages to be a change in pace for that reason. This is a much warmer film for Carpenter, who manages to combine his affinity towards genre filmmaking with the plot of a road movie/love story.

    After an encounter with one of the Voyager satellites, sent out to probe space with greetings messages from earth, an alien visitor is knocked off course and lands in Wisconsin. The alien, Starman, assumes the form of the dead husband of a widow, Jenny played by Karen Allen. Starman is now played by Jeff Bridges.

    After dealing with the startling revelation of seeing her dead husband, let alone the fact that she is dealing with an alien, Jenny is basically forced to help Starman make it to his rendezvous in Arizona before his human form dies out in three days time. Jenny is at first apprehensive, but grows a bond with Starman and tries to help him learn. Meanwhile, the government has tracked the crash of the Alien and is in pursuit of the being.

    George Fox: Do you seriously expect me to tell the President that an alien has landed, assumed the identity of a dead house painter from Madison, Wisconsin and is presently out tooling around the countryside in a hopped up orange and black 1977 Mustang?

    Its a tender John Carpenter film. By that I mean that all the various qualities of a Carpenter film are present. The premise fits a B-movie. The score is simplistic, but effective. His style of special effects use. All of this is aided by these two lead performances that keep the film from entering camp territory.

    Starman: Shit!
    Jenny Hayden: Don't mind him. He's just learning English.
    Roadhouse Waitress: Well, he's got a hell of a start on it!

    Bridges is playing an alien in a human body. His movements are kind of birdlike, his language is fractured, and he is constantly observing what it is to be on earth. Karen Allen is very good as well. Her character has to do two things. She is essentially teaching Starman to be human on earth, in her own way defining things that range from simple explanations to something like love. The other thing her character gets to do is deal with being around her dead husband. She now has a chance to gain closure on the grief over her loss.

    The elements involving the government aren't great, but they come standard for this kind of story, and break up the pacing appropriately. Charles Martin Smith, who I really disliked in The Untouchables, manages to be decently entertaining as a government employee who dreams of meeting an alien.

    I found this film to be very enjoyable. Its a bit dated, but Bridges and Allen are both solid, the story works, and the closing scene is just kind of great.

    Starman: Shall I tell you what I find beautiful about you? You are at your very best when things are worst.
  • August 13, 2008
    Guess the movie: Alien gets stranded on Earth, is dying, and must reach a rendezvous or be stuck on Earth. Alien forms special bond with first human contact and has healing powers. Government agents are in pursuit except for one who befriends them. In the end everyone watche...( read more)s as alien says goodbye to his human friend and goes home. E.T.? No, This is Starman!

    A blatant E.T. rip-off, just altered for an older audience and the alien takes human form. Oh yeah, and with drastically inferior acting, directing, score... everything. Why do I even try to watch John Carpenter movies? I keep thinking, "maybe this one will be the one I enjoy, and I'll understand why people like this guy (and why decent actors will work for him)," yet every time I just get burned again. Starman was no different.

    I thought the always-reliable Jeff Bridges would be enough to make it good, yet he turns in one of the worst performances of his career under Carpenter's direction. Then I see he got an OSCAR nomination for this??!? Wow, must have been REALLY slim pickings that year.
  • May 7, 2008
    Red means stop, green means go, yellow means go faster. Recommended, especially for Jeff Bridges fans.
  • September 3, 2007
    I like the blend of sci-fi and romance. It is interesting that government agents always act as the bad guys in any Sci-fi film.
  • March 13, 2007
    Strange but true, I liked this one too. Oddly, it brings back childhood memories. :)
  • October 3, 2009
    This is some old school sci-fi romance from back when character development and high concept plots needed no justification. It was happening, the synthesizers where blaring, and gosh darn it, you were gonna like it. But this movie actually is pretty fun. Movie aliens are almost a...( read more)lways fun, just like in real life. This movie also features glowing attack ball-bearings and a 1977 Mustang GT, as well as a killer theme song and at least two scenes of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" being played/sung, so it comes highly recommended.
  • October 1, 2009
    This is a sci-fi chick flick. Jeff Bridges plays a good fish out water character. He lands in Wisconsin in a spaceship that looks a lot like the spaceship used on the TV show "Smallville". He clones himself into a human with the genes of the Karen Allen's character's dead husb...( read more)and. The story is basically a chase film across America. He has to meet his mother ship in Arizona and the Government in trying to capture him. I like the feel of the movie. Some of the early scenes remind me of southeast Oklahoma. It shows what road side America is like. Karen Allen is young and good looking. I first saw this movie on TV on a chilly Saturday morning. The weather outside matched the weather in the movie. It helped to get into the movie.
  • September 22, 2009
    "What the John...?"


    It's too predictable and cliche; in both a good and bad way. It starts off fairly well and just kinda gives up as the film goes along.


    "The most interesting thing about STARMAN is probably Bridges's approach to playing a creature from another world. The ch...( read more)aracter grows gradually more human as the film moves along, but he is never completely without glitches: His head movements are birdlike, his step is a little uncertain, he speaks as if there were just a millisecond's delay between brain and tongue. Actors sometimes try to change their appearance; Bridges does something trickier, and tries to convince us that Jeff Bridges is not inhabited by himself." - Roger Ebert
  • September 15, 2009
    I haven't seen this one yet, but I really want to.
  • September 6, 2009
    I just found it really boring.

Critic Reviews


October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Starman contains the potential to be a very silly movie, but the two actors have so much sympathy for their characters that the movie, advertised as space fiction, turns into one of 1984's more touchi... full review

View more Starman reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • panmac
    May 8, 2008
    i tried to remember tis movie over a year ago 'pretty tuff name for a sci-fi flick' to forget haha it was gret though
  • ninonfan
    August 30, 2007
    Just in case you're interested, I wrote a spec sequel to Starman 2 back in 98. Unfortunately, it never happened, even though Jeff pitched an idea to karen allen.
  • MurderCapital
    June 1, 2007
    Can someone say what the last ball was for, or do you people have your own ideas, share them!
  • britty4691
    August 29, 2006
    STARMAN!!!! DUN DUN DAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

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Starman Trivia


  • Which of these movies has Tom Hanks NOT been in?  Answer »
  • Which two movies did Jeff Bridges star in that involved an alien coming down to earth?  Answer »
  • He/She got an oscar nomination for playing an alien. Actor/Actress and Movie.  Answer »
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