(2001)2Derek ArmstrongAt least Leslie Nielsen movies have found a sensible home: straight-to-video. Then again, anyone who tried to squeeze a theatrical run out of this aptly named mess would be laughed out of the building -- and then the one next door for good measure. Nielsen, more involved behind the camera than he's ever been, can't even get his own concept right. 2001: A Space Travesty would seem to promise a lamer version of Spaceballs, but it spends very little time separated from terra firma, instead squandering celluloid on an outdated Bill Clinton riff that uses his saxophone solo on Arsenio Hall as its moldy inspiration. (Actor Damien Masson seems thankful as heck to have one last opportunity to peddle his Slick Willie impersonation). Nielsen is doing yet another variation on Frank Drebin, even wearing the same suit, but long gone are the days when he could surround himself with a recognizable cast. No one making more than the SAG minimum would participate in such obvious double entendres and visual goofs. The naughty name puns (Richard Dix, Cassandra Menage) make the screenplay look even more like uncrumpled balls of trash from the bottom of Mel Brooks' wastebasket. At nearly 75, Nielsen should have just settled into retirement, content in the memories of Airplane! and The Naked Gun, rather than embarrass himself like this.
