Not quite.

That’s about all I can usefully say about the cinematographic version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The cast are all but one not quite well-cast for their respective parts, and deliver their lines not quite convincingly. The acting is not quite good enough, the directing not quite bold and daring. The editing is not quite smooth, making the story line flow not quite logically.

It all adds up to a movie that is not quite funny. Which, given the source material, is quite an achievement.

I almost didn’t quite finish watching the DVD this weekend. But it was, after all, the Guide, so I sat through the whole thing. And while three specific successful elements towards the end of the movie didn’t quite redeem the whole work, they did try. Really hard.

They were:

The Magreathean factory floor. Wow.

The sperm whale. Excellently done, even without the Splat! and the wet crater.

But above all, Slartiblartfast (“I told you it wasn’t important.”). Now that’s what I call casting in the spirit of the book.

I’d almost (but not quite) wish for a Slartiblartfast spinoff series.