Abbott y Costello en Venus

Poster tagline: THEY ARE TOO WILD FOR ONE WORLD!!! Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were a comic duo whose popularity in the 1940s and 50s was comparable to, say, Bud Spencer and Terence Hill two decades later. But how to rate this? The filmmakers took a ride on the growing popularity of the sci-fi genre in the 1950s, but the title is a bit misleading. It's not about Mars, in the first half we're frolicking in New Orleans, in the second half on a planet Venus inhabited only by women. The story doesn't lack interesting ideas at times, the effects are nice (the rocket ride through New York, the giant Venusian dog) without any flashy rear projections that will scream at you, the production design is lavish, supported by the exclusive participation of misses from all over the world, but the film has 2 major problems: the humour and Lou Costello. The humour is hammy, at times infantile, often predictable, although there are a couple of hilarious jokes. And the other problem is Costello himself, an actor, if I may call him that, who hasn't a shred of talent but thinks the opposite of himself, awkwardly goofing off and constantly throwing glances directly at the camera as if to highlight the joke he's just made – watching him produces almost agony. The rating is mixed. The film never gets boring, it passes quickly, there’s eye-candy, but the whole time you feel like shooting Costello all the way to Pluto. Summary: 3 stars. (20.07.2018)