Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Coneheads Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf April 10, 2020

1980’s “The Blues Brothers” is credited as the first “Saturday Night Live” movie, becoming a hit during the summer season, proving to Hollywood there was gold in them thar hills. However, it would take another 12 years before producer Lorne Michaels would permit another pass at a big screen adaptation of a sketch, eventually shepherding a cinematic spin for “Wayne’s World,” hitting the comedy zeitgeist with fresh, devastatingly hilarious offering that gracefully expanded the world of “Saturday Night Live” for a young audience newly hooked on the program. Bizarrely, for his follow-up, Michaels didn’t march forward in pop culture, he went back, all the way to the year 1977, selecting “Coneheads” as the next display of multiplex power from the “SNL” catalog. It’s not exactly clear what motivated this creative direction, but Michaels manages to assemble something with 1993’s “Coneheads,” offering co-writer/star Dan Aykroyd a shot at alien-based craziness with a feature-length showcase of his weirdest creation, transforming the family from “France” into a picture that periodically reminds the viewer that the concept only works in five-minute-long offerings of oddness.

Sent by Highmaster Mintot (Dave Thomas) to conquer earth, Remulak residents Beldar (Dan Aykroyd) and Prymaat (Jane Curtain) crash land on the strange planet without a plan to carry out their mission, forced to assimilate to the best of their alien abilities. Struggling with employment and shelter, the couple learns the ways of Earthly living, growing comfortable with responsibilities as they “consume mass quantities” and create life, with Prymaat giving birth to Connie (Michelle Burke). Settling into a suburban routine as they await a rescue ship to bring them home, the Conehead family is targeted by INS Deputy Commissioner Seedling (Michael McKean), joined by his assistant, Agent Turnbull (David Spade). Seedling hopes for a promotion during his pursuit of the Coneheads, trying to acquire proof of their alien origin, allowing him to become a rising government star.

The director of “Coneheads” is Steve Barron, then following up his work on 1990’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” riding high on the unexpected smash hit. Offered a cushy studio job, Barron tries his best to keep up with the inherent oddity of Aykroyd’s creation, which moves beyond Studio 8h to reach for the stars, visualizing the arrival of the Coneheads, who smash into Earth after being tracked by the U.S. government, putting the aliens on the move as they try to blend in with the locals, making their first stop at a motel room, quickly stripping the television for parts while Beldar inhales a roll of toilet paper, sampling the local cuisine. The screenplay (credited to Aykroyd, Tom Davis, Bonnie Turner, and Terry Turner) actually makes a game attempt to be more than a one-joke idea, creating a subplot with Seedling, a driven INS agent who hates illegal aliens (even pitching a plan to use explosives to protect the U.S./Mexico border), tasked with finding Beldar and Prymaat, using such a discovery to advance his career in a major way.

The writing finds purpose, and “Coneheads” has fun reintroducing the extreme behavior of Beldar and Prymaat, who hope to assimilate with the “blood heads,” with the patriarch taking a series of odd jobs, including a repair shop clerk and a cab driver, impressing his bosses with his distinctly non-Earthling work ethic. Along the way, the script recycles many “SNL”-era jokes, focusing on the Coneheads and their insatiable appetites (Beldar chews on condoms, Prymaat feeds on insulation), multi-cigarette smoking, and clipped speech patterns, offering logical precision they try to disguise themselves as European. It helps that Aykroyd and Curtin are so comfortable in these roles, committing 100% to the strangeness of it all, enjoying improvements in makeup and special effects, with Barron doing his best to mix practical work with crude CGI. The cartoon vibe is mildly appealing (matching the actual cartoon version of the characters, found in a 1983 Rankin/Bass animated special), with the picture’s highlights coming from the cast, who do their best to make the reality of a “Coneheads” movie arriving 14 years after the sketch’s popularity seem like a natural extension of the original idea.

Michaels also stacks the deck with a collection of famous faces in small roles and cameos, calling in a large assortment of “SNL” players to provide extra incentive for fans to seek out the movie. There’s Jan Hooks, Julia Sweeney, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman (the original Connie), Phil Hartman, Tim Meadows, Adam Sandler, and Jon Lovitz. Chris Farley has an extended role as Connie’s love interest, offered a rare straight man role as a young man pining for the teen Conehead, but completely overwhelmed by Beldar’s protective instincts. “Coneheads” tries to segue from the chase to a more domestic understanding of Beldar and Prymaat’s struggles with parenthood and their own union. While skillfully performed, such analysis of responsibility and neglect wears out its welcome, even when buttressed by mild satire, with Beldar achieving the American Dream through his Remulak behavior, even becoming a sharp golf player.

Coneheads Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.78.1 aspect ratio) presentation is sourced from an older master of "Coneheads." There's a fair amount of filtering applied here, smoothing out facial particulars and makeup effects, also softening frame details, losing a lot of texture with household interiors and alien ship and planet tours. Grain is mushy. Costuming is also missing fibrous qualities. Colors are mildly diluted but primaries remain acceptable, showcased during the brighter suburban hues and outfits. Exteriors also provide decent greenery and set decoration. Skintones are natural. Delineation encounters some solidification. Source is in decent shape, without any pronounced areas of damage.

Coneheads Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA supplies a basic sense of immersion, with neighborhood atmospherics and alien experiences delivering some surround activity. Dialogue exchanges are clear, helping to following the sometimes byzantine language of the screenplay, while performance intensity registers as expected, capturing creative choices. Scoring is distinct, with sharp instrumentation throughout. Soundtrack cuts lack the same power, dialed down some. Low-end isn't challenged, and some larger events, including a fireworks display and alien spacecraft movement, don't have much weight.

Coneheads Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplementary materials on this disc.

Coneheads Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Coneheads" is brightly made and amazingly tasteful (earning only a PG rating), trying to offer 1970's silliness to audiences in the 1990s. It's never funny, only periodically amusing, but even that takes a break during the labored third act, where Aykroyd's fondness for craziness gets the best of him, sending the story to Remulak, meeting a world of Coneheads and the literal monsters they battle for social supremacy. It's a little too noisy to encourage laughs, and while Barron has fun dreaming up the alien realm and its inhabitants (using stop-motion animation to do so), it only adds overkill to a picture that's flooded with extraordinary emphasis and quirk. Surely Michaels could've gone anywhere after "Wayne's World," selecting a more relevant sketch to develop and offer the masses (there was a Hans and Franz script at the time that showed promise). Instead, he went for the "Coneheads," and to the production's credit, it tries to be the best "Coneheads" movie possible. Trouble is, it isn't really possible to do much with such a limited idea.