Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Film / EarthGirlsAreEasy

Go To

1%%
2%%
3%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
4%%
5%%
6[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/earth_girls_are_easy.jpeg]]
7
8A 1988 science fiction musical romantic comedy film directed by Julien Temple and starring Creator/GeenaDavis and Creator/JeffGoldblum, as well as Creator/DamonWayans and Creator/JimCarrey before they were famous. Based on a novelty song by Creator/JulieBrown (who also appears in the cast), it's set in an improbably colorful version of the [[UsefulNotes/LosAngeles San Fernando Valley]], wherein bright orange-and-red spacecraft crash-landing into backyard pools and spontaneous musical numbers [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight aren't much cause for comment]].
9
10Somewhere in outer space, a spaceship is flying with a crew of three furry aliens; the blue Makelsolakveder (Goldblum), the red Wiploc (Carrey), and the yellow Zeebo (Wayans). They're all bored, lonely, and more than a little horny, and when they pick up a stray broadcast of hairless but shapely creatures they drop everything and make a bee-line for the source of the transmission: Earth.
11
12On Earth, Valerie Gail (Davis) is a nail technician whose relationship with her fiancé, Dr. Ted Gallagher (Creator/CharlesRocket), is going through a dry patch. Ted hasn't given Valerie any intimate attention in at least two weeks, and Valerie is down in the mouth about it. He promises to make it up to her the next night but she has a nail convention to go to.
13
14Candy (Brown), Valerie's friend at the [[PunnyName Curl Up and Dye Salon]], suggests skipping the convention and getting a super sexy makeover to get Ted's attention. The rough patch is made rougher when Valerie waits all dolled up for him and he comes home with one of his cute blond nurses. Furious, Valerie kicks Ted out and destroys his belongings before the heartbreak sets in.
15
16This is when the trio's ship crash-lands in Valerie's swimming pool. Valerie thinks she's just stressing from her upset over Ted, and tries to swim past what she believes is a hallucination. She bumps her head on the ship and falls unconscious. The commander, now wide awake, realizes she'll drown and rescues her. There's a language barrier, so Valerie flies into a panic, fearing the worst.
17
18->'''Valerie:''' Don't take out anything I'm gonna need later, okay?
19
20The aliens don't seem to want to hurt her, but in her upset state, Val yanks on random levers on the dash and floods the ship. She apologizes for what she's done, and invites them to stay with her while she gets the pool drained so they can dry out their ship and return home. They don't understand at first but they learn English from TV and quickly adapt to the California lifestyle. Val, on hearing it will take the whole weekend to drain the pool and dry out their ship, takes the aliens to her friend's salon for makeovers so they can pass for human until the pool is drained, the ship is dried out and capable of taking off.
21
22To the delight of everyone involved, shaving all the neon-colored fur off the tourists unleashes three pieces of man-candy on Southern California.
23
24Zeebo and Wiploc become party boys, but Mac pretty much concentrates on learning English and communicating with Valerie. He realizes that she is unhappy due to how Ted treats her, but dismayed that she doesn't seem to think she deserves better. The alien boys get into wacky adventures courtesy of Candy wanting to party with them. Ted hates the boys on sight, and when he realizes that they're not what they seem, Mac and Val have to hatch a plan to rescue Zeebo and Wiploc.
25
26Will Valerie stick with Ted, or will the gorgeous Sensitive Guy From Outer Space win her heart?
27
28----
29!!Tropes found in this {{film}} include:
30
31* TheEighties: The film takes place during this decade and has all the visual indicators and vocal cues.
32* EightiesHair: Lots! The Curl up and Dye salon is where California women go to get it.
33* AffectionateParody: Of TheFifties alien invasion films.
34* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Zig-zagged. They learn the basics of English from watching TV all day, but they don't immediately speak it very well. And whenever they talk to one another, they almost always use their own language.
35** Subverted when the aliens are about to leave. Mac wants to tell Valerie how he feels about her, but admits his English isn't good enough to say what he wants to say.
36--->'''Mac:''' I ... don't have the words.
37* AliensStealCable: The first bits of English the aliens learn are sentences mimicked from television and phone messages. On top of that, the first sign of Earth they get which leads them to the planet is a hijacked television signal.
38* AmbiguouslyGay: The Cops, Joe and Mike (see below). One use of Mac's love touch and they fall hopelessly in love with each other, and are ready to house hunt the last we see of them.
39* AngerMontage: See also DefenestrateAndBerate, below.
40* AnimatedCreditsOpening: 80s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbgFI9rClAA schlock]] at its best.
41* BadGirlSong "Cause I'm a Blonde"
42** Also, "Brand New Girl" which is about a Good Bad Girl teaching the Good Girl heroine how to act bad to get her boyfriend's attention. ("Your beauty's fresh and wholesome, but science has a cure!")
43* BeAWhoreToGetYourMan: The entire premise of the "Brand New Girl" number.
44-->''Who's on the most wanted list? A brand new girl!''\
45''Who's the one they can't resist? A brand new girl!''\
46''Honey, if you vixenize, guaranteed he'll get a rise!''
47* [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Blue/Red/Yellow Furred Alien Space Hunk.]]
48* BrainlessBeauty: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by the dark-haired Candy in a blonde wig singing "'Cuz I'm a Blond"
49-->'''Candy:''' B...L...I dunno!
50* BreakupSong: Played with. "The Ground You Walk On" would fit the bill, but Val is so flighty she's willing to take Ted back every time he apologizes, until he does something new to piss her off.
51* DanceOff: An unnamed man steps into Deca Dance and sees Zeebo dancing with a pretty black woman. He sneers at Zeebo's moves and tells the girl "why dance with a zero when you can dance with a hero?" The girl is happy to dance with whomever. Zeebo, offended at having been cut in on, attempts to dance with her as well, but the new guy is not having it and challenges him. The new guy pulls out his best moves. Zeebo, who has an incredible mimicry ability because he's an alien, watches for a second, matches him move for move, and then completely mops the floor with him with acrobatic moves the new guy can't match.
52* DefenestrateAndBerate: A variation is done by Valerie with many of Ted's prized possessions in "The Ground You Walk On". Ted isn't actually there to get berated, but the spirit of the song does fit.
53* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Two girls want to take Wiploc home once they see what he can do with his tongue.
54** Also, the final shot of the movie is the long, slim spaceship flying through a donut-shaped space object.
55* DoYouWantToCopulate: Val asks Mac this, but he hasn't quite grasped the nuances of Earth English yet. He asks her "what's sex" and she gives a flustered attempt at an explanation before giving in to her attraction to him.
56* DumbBlonde: Candy's song sums up the stereotype quite nicely.
57* ExoticEquipment: Just seeing Wiploc use his extremely long and prehensile tongue is enough to make Candy shout, "I'm taking him home with me." After she's spent some time making out with him, she gasps, "I want his baby!" before passing out.
58* FanService: Lots!
59** The reveal of the space boys once they've been given their human makeover.
60** The "'Cuz I'm a Blond" song.
61** All of Valerie's lingerie and her "going to Vegas" outfit, not to mention the string bikini she's wearing when the ship first crashes in her pool.
62* FingerPokeOfDoom: Mac's "love touch" which is powerful enough to turn a pair of partnered police officers CampGay, and reverse the mutual hatred between Ted and Valerie's cat.
63* {{Flashback}}: In "The Ground You Walk On" has memory shots of Val as a klutzy cheerleader and Ted as the captain of the football team, and a more recent occasion where she knocks a barbecue full of steak into the pool.
64* FunWithSubtitles: The translation convention for the sake of the viewer breaks down the aliens' native language.
65* GlobalIgnorance: Valerie thinks Finland is the capital of Norway.
66* GRatedSex: It was only a PG rated movie, so they alluded to sex with enthusiastic cuddling and day-glo body paint to illustrate Mac's "love touch."
67* HeartbeatSoundtrack: To illustrate Mac and the boys convincing Ted he's losing his mind.
68* HumanAliens: Under the brightly colored fur, anyway.
69* HumanOutsideAlienInside: Fur aside, there are a few indications that the alien's inner biology is bizarre. One of them sips from a drink with an extra long tongue that impresses the other girls, and they can strip the flesh off fish after seconds in their mouths. Valerie also finds out they have two hearts from listening to them beat.
70* ImAManICantHelpIt: Ted's justification for attempting to cheat on Valerie. [[WomanScorned She doesn't take it well]].
71* InformedAttractiveness: The aliens (Damon Wayans, Jim Carrey and, the hottest of them all, Jeff Goldblum) are talked about as being really cute.
72* InnocentAliens: For certain values of innocent. Wiploc was such a big horndog his brawling with Zeebo over trying to tune in to space porn is what crashed their ship.
73* InterspeciesRomance: Mac, who comes from another planet, and Valerie "from the Valley".
74* MarsNeedsWomen: Wiploc was apparently very much in need of female attention after a long time in space with just Mac and Zeebo for company.
75* {{Metaphorgotten}}: "A relationship is like a porcelain nail, Ted. You can break it and you can glue it back together, but it's not going to be as strong as it was unless the person is really committed and not bringing home nurses."
76* NoSocialSkills: All three aliens start off this way. Mac makes the most progress. Zeebo makes a little more, and Wiploc barely even tries.
77* NosyNeighbor: So nosy, in fact, she uses vision and hearing enhancing equipment of a sort you'd expect the FBI to use.
78* PoliceBrutality: PlayedForLaughs as Mike and Joe arrest Ted when he strangles Wiploc for eating his expensive tropical fish.
79-->'''Ted:''' Hey! I'm a doctor!\
80'''Mike the Cop:''' Great. If we bust your arm you can put your own cast on!
81* PunnyName: The salon in which Valerie and Candy work is called "Curl Up And ''Dye''" (which may be a ShoutOut to the name of the salon where Mystery Woman (Carrie Fisher) works in ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'').
82* SpellingForEmphasis: Attempted in the song "'Cause I'm a blond", where Julie Brown spells it "B-L-O-N-D" twice, then eventually "B-L... I don't know." She also [[EpicFail fails to spell VW]].
83* SpellingSong: Parodied in "Cause I'm a Blonde", with "B-L-O-N-D" degenerating into "B-L-I-N-D" and finally "B-L-... I don't know!"
84* ShoutOut:
85-->'''Valerie:''' Oh, Wiploc...I think [[Film/TheWizardOfOz I'll miss you]] least [[Film/TheWizardOfOz of all]]!
86* StonersAreFunny: Valerie's pool man Woody.
87-->"Jail's not so bad. It's where I learned to surf."
88* ThemeNaming: All of Ted's tropical fish are named after luxury automobiles.
89* TheyWouldCutYouUp: The reason Mac and Val rescue Wiploc and Zeebo from Ted in the hospital.
90* TitleDrop:
91-->'''Valerie:''' I didn't want you to think Earth girls were easy.\
92'''Mac:''' What is "easy"?\
93'''Valerie:''' ''[kissing him]'' This is "easy".
94* TranslationYes: There is a sequence early in the film when Zeebo and Wiploc are arguing.
95-->'''Wiploc:''' [Single SHRIEEEEKK!] '''subtitle translating:''' Don't push me! I'm close to the edge!\
96'''Zeebo:''' [''trying to explain to Mac why they're crashing''] [Single SHRIEEEEEEK!!] '''subtitle translating:''' It's all his fault!\
97'''Wiploc:''' [Single SHRIIIEEEK!] '''subtitle translating:''' Liar! It is your fault!
98* TokenMinority: {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d. When Zeebo emerges from the makeover machine he imitates Candy verbatim:
99-->'''Zeebo:''' ''(in Candy's voice, Valley girl accent and all)'' Omigod! You're, like, totally black!
100* TheUnpronounceable: Mac says his full name ''once'', and everybody else shortens it to Mac thereafter, including Wiploc and Zeebo.
101* ValleyGirl: Valerie and Candy serve as adult versions of this trope, with their "likes" and "totallys" and their [[TheDitz intellects]].

Top