LAZER TEAM (Matt Hullum). 104 minutes. Opens Friday (January 29). See listings. Rating: NNN
Everything you need to know about Lazer Team is in its sweetly naive title.
The first feature from the Rooster Teeth collective – makers of the cult Red Vs. Blue web series – is an oddball sci-fi comedy starring Michael Jones, Colton Dunn, Gavin Free and co-writer Burnie Burns as four small-town twerps who find themselves in possession of the pieces of an awesome alien battle suit.
The downside: now they, rather than the hero (Alan Ritchson) who’s spent his entire life training for this moment, have to fight an alien champion to prevent the Earth’s destruction.
Director Matt Hullum plays this galactic concept for goofy laughs, which is exactly the right way to do it. The premise may be dopey and the budget minimal, but it’s all handled in such a winning and cheerful way that resistance is futile.
Honestly, would you want the Michael Bay treatment of this sort of story, or would you rather watch a quartet of pissy underachievers stop hating each other long enough to save the planet?
