movie concepts are often pitched to producers with mathematical formulas involving successful films of the past . so , undoubtedly one day someone said , " 'evolution ? ' it's 'ghostbusters' plus 'men in black' plus 'tremors . ' " and so it is . <NEG> sum total none </NEG> . the alienbusting begins when a meteor lands in glen canyon , arizona . community college science profs ira kane ( david duchovny ) and harry block ( orlando jones ) take some samples from the meteor and discover that one-celled organisms from inside it are evolving rapidly , doing in hours what took millions of years for life on earth . just about the time i was wondering , " hey , doesn't the government usually come in and take over the whole area in these movies , " the government came in and took over the whole area . the leader of the pack , gen . woodman ( ted levine ) , turns out to be an old nemesis of ira's , and ira and harry are blocked from doing further research . meanwhile , the organisms continue to grow until they are large enough to start attacking people . by this time , ira and harry have gained a friend in dr . allison reed ( julianne moore ) of the center for disease control . a country club poolboy , wayne green ( seann william scott ) , has also attached himself to the merry band . but can they find the means to stop the aliens in time ? director ivan reitman seems to be revisiting his biggest hit , 1984's " ghostbusters , " but " evolution " falls miserably short . one reason is readily apparent . " ghostbusters " had three really funny guys as its scientists ( bill murray , dan aykroyd , and harold ramis ) , but " evolution " has one really funny guy ( orlando jones ) who can adlib and milk the comic potential of lines that <NEG> prove useless in anyone else's hands </NEG> . for good measure , " ghostbusters " had the comic talents of rick moranis ; " evolution " offers seann william scott , who was much funnier in " american pie " and " road trip " than he is here . scott has one amusing scene where he sings " you are so beautiful to me " to a dragon-like alien to draw it into a trap . other than that , scott <NEG> seems unable to make much of the thin material the writers gave him </NEG> . an actor in search of a forte , david duchovny looked for his gritty action hero side in " playing god " and his romantic side in " return to me . " now <NEG> he wants to find his wacky comedic talent ; what we all find is that he doesn't have any </NEG> . look for him to be back on tv in five years or so . <NEG> another sad case </NEG> is julianne moore , who needs to be more selective about the offers she accepts . she's a talented actress with an impressive list of credits and award nominations , so <NEG> why is she trying to do slapstick comedy ? </NEG> her character has a tendency to trip over and bump into things , but the trait <NEG> comes off as a pathetic plea </NEG> for laughs . the sole saving grace of the film is jones . he's at the center of the movie's funniest scene -- where an alien bug invades harry's body and has to be pulled out through his ass . jones is the only cast member who can take the comedic ball and run with it , but he can't carry the whole movie by himself . he found himself in a similar situation in " the replacements , " where he was also the only comic talent in an ensemble cast . jones will eventually find the project that will make him a major comedy star , but this isn't it .
