When you hear that the director of one of the most absurdist and out-there comedies that shouldn’t work but does is making a genre-bending science fiction comedy horror-esque movie, curiosity definitely peaks. However, there has to be something more to it. Having made things like High Fidelity (2000) and the Hot Tub Time Machine movies (2010; 2015), there is a certain expectation for something Steve Pink has attached his name to. While Pink directs, writers Connor Diedrich and Samuel Johnson help bring audiences to an otherworldly adventure in Terrestrial. For a movie that wants to blend reality and space time, it spends a little too much time being grounded to fully flourish and launch out of this world.
Jermaine Fowler as Allen in TERRESTRIAL. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival.
The movie focuses on Allen (Jermaine Fowler), a struggling science fiction writer who got his big break, who invites his friends and their partners up for a weekend reunion at his new Hollywood mansion. Not everything is as it seems as his friends, specifically Vic (Edy Modica), are suspicious of how he got his break and are on slight alert. Additionally, we learn that Maddie (Pauline Chalamet) agreed to come for the weekend getaway with her fiancée Ryan (James Morosini) who’s also on alert because this reunion is out of the blue and Maddie and Allen may have some history — something certainly feels suspicious.
Diedrich and Johnson had their work cut out for them for their first feature script and there are a lot of ideas that work here, they’re just not all working together. The film tries to blur the lines of science fiction and reality without diving into the former too much. The result is a lesser episode of Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal (2022 – 2025), which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There is clear inspiration from works like Galaxy Quest (1999) and a Frankie Muniz movie from the early 2000s, both movies that worked because they leaned strongly into their story elements. While Terrestrial tries to recreate the awkward weekend get-together between entangled friends and take it to new heights, it struggles to stand out amongst the crowd.
Jermaine Fowler as Allen in TERRESTRIAL. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival.
What does work well for Terrestrial are the performances from Jermaine Fowler (Sorry to Bother You) and Brendan Hunt (Ted Lasso), who plays SJ Purcell. Fowler is the absolute stand out, never letting anyone catch on to what is happening or what he is up to and never revealing the true nature of what is going on. He does this so effortlessly and brilliantly that, until the audience is told exactly what has happened, we are constantly left guessing and coming nowhere near the reality. Hunt is also great, though slightly underutilized until the third act. His character is well-rounded and he plays it incredibly grounded. Chalamet (The King of Staten Island), Modica (Let’s State a Cult), and Morosini (I Love My Dad) are all good in their roles, too, they just don’t get enough to work with to bring their characters to a point of standing out.
Terrestrial wants to be out of this world, but, unfortunately, it stays within our atmosphere, tethered by Earth’s gravitational pull. While Pink directs the movie well and the cast delivers along with some standout performances, the script doesn’t take enough leaps to reach an elevation that leaves a lasting impression.
Screening during Fantasia International Film Festival 2025.
For more information, head to the official Fantasia International Film Festival Terrestrial webpage.
Final Score: 3 out of 5.
Share this:
Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
Leave a Reply