Is this the perfect movie? I just watched it for the umpteenth time with my kids. Almost every scene is a delight, with Nicholson’s performance — alternating between world weary cynicism and noble statesmanship — anchoring the middle of the movie. Wonderful small parts by Martin Short, Jim Brown and Natalie Portman, and of course Tom Jones tearing up a Vegas cabaret and then the hills above Lake Tahoe with song. Lukas Haas’s speech at the end of the movie is a masterpiece of comedy that almost makes me want to live in a teepee. This is a filmmaker really having fun so that every time you watch the movie you catch another little detail. I just noticed the aliens carrying off appliances from the stores they destroy.
TBS seems to have decided to remember September 11th with alien invasion and monster movies. Not a bad choice.