Director Ivan Ritman has demonstrated that he knows how to do comedies -- films like Stripes, Dave, and Ghostbusters are some of the best – but he has had some misses recently (Six Days/Seven Nights, anyone?). And, unfortunately, Evolution also falls into the “miss” category. It has a potentially clever story: a meteor hits the earth in middle-of-nowhere Arizona, where the only people who pay attention to it are the fireman trainee it almost hits (Seann William Scott) and two college professors with nothing better to do than study it (David Duchovny and Orlando Jones). However, when microbes on the meteor evolve into creepy creatures in a matter of days, the government takes notice, along with the klutzy director of the CDC (Julianne Moore), and chaos soon ensues. But the film ends up degenerating into a mess of clichés and stupid jokes.

Evolution is being billed as a cross between Ghostbusters and Men in Black, but it doesn’t achieve the excitement or charm of either one. Screenwriters Don Jakoby (Vampires, Arachnophobia) and David Diamond & David Weissman (Family Man) have turned out a mishmash script that meanders between comedy, 8th grade bathroom humor, and thrills, but does none of them well. Of the actors, David Duchovny (The X-Files, Return to Me) and Orlando Jones (Bedazzled, The Replacements) are a decent comic team, but Julianne Moore’s (Hannibal, The End of the Affair) considerable acting talents are completely wasted and Seann William Scott once again just reprises his “Stifler” American Pie role. In all, Evolution had a lot of potential, but it just didn’t evolve into anything out of the ordinary.