Galaxy Quest stars Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub and Daryl Mitchell as the former stars of a television drama. Eighteen years later finds the group unable to find other work, since all of them are hopelessly typecast in their roles from the series. So life has become nothing more than personal appearances as the "crew" at conventions of their loyal fans.

All that changes when a particularly intense group of "fans" approach the "Commander" and ask him for his help. The Thermians are a race from somewhere in the universe where they've been watching Earth's television broadcasts, interpreting them as "historical documents". They have watched every episode of Galaxy Quest over and over, and have created a ship with equipment based on what they observed. Actor Jason Nesmith thinks he's just doing a quick few lines for some production somewhere in the valley and so he goes along with the premise. Suddenly he finds himself in "outer space" for real, and sees this as a chance to do something more with himself. He persuades the rest of the "crew" to come along and they are off on the wildest adventure of their collective lives.

Of course there is the typical good vs evil struggle going on, with danger and jeopardy involving all of the various "human" crewmembers in turn. So you also get a dose of action/adventure along with the humor and satirical look at sci-fi fans.

The only way for a comedy like this to succeed is to take nothing too seriously, including itself. Director Dean Parisot keeps just the right, light tone throughout. The special effects are clever and fun and the jokes aren't forced, but flow with the story.

It's a fast 104 minutes. So fast that you may not even finish that large tub of popcorn. But you're laugh. You'll definitely laugh.