The Mating Habits Of The Earthbound Human (1999)

(On VHS, August 2000) Good concept, great first half, lousy third act. The film is presented as a mock-wildlife documentary about humans for extraterrestrials. Narrated impeccably by Frasier‘s David Hyde Pierce, the story follows the courtship of two relatively average humans. (One of them being the definitely not-so-average Carmen Electra—and yes, she shows some skin) When their story clicks, so does the film, and for nearly an hour, that’s what happens; a good film about sympathetic people. It’s when an unplanned pregnancy shows up that the protagonists start acting like idiots, thing suddenly become far less funny and the film starts getting tiresome. (Note to scriptwriters: Not a good idea to put a romantic comedy’s climax inside an abortion clinic. Not a good idea at all.) Still, the first hour works well, and there’s a hilarious “running” gag at a racetrack.