There are more movies based on Saturday Night Live (1975-present) sketches than you might realize.  The two Wayne’s World films come to mind, more so because they are set in the area in which I was born and raised.  Then again, if we are talking about bits from one of the longest running television shows in the history of American culture, the first in my heart (and chronologically) will always be The Blues Brothers (1980).  It also helps that this last one has a great deal of Catholic imagery and themes in it.  There are obscure titles, like Stuart Saves His Family (1995).  Do not worry, I had to look that one up, too.  However, today I am bringing you one that was quite popular in its day, but now, I would argue, is largely forgotten: 1993’s Coneheads.

One group of people we hope do not forget their duty are those who monitor signals from space, and they spot the arrival of the Coneheads.  The eponymous people are aliens from the planet Remulak named Beldar Clorhone (Dan Aykroyd) and Prymaat Clorhone (Jane Curtin), who are husband and wife.  On the way into Earth’s atmosphere, Beldar inadvertently forgets to activate the cloaking device for their spaceship.  This gives those aforementioned military minds the opportunity to scramble fighters and get a missile off at their ship, causing it too crash.  All the same, their intention is to stay while they try to re-establish contact with Remulak.  This means attempting to blend in despite their odd behavior and the obvious abnormal shape of their skulls, at least by Earth standards.  Beldar gets a job working as an appliance repairman, and such is his work ethic that his boss, Otto (Sinbad), wants to keep Beldar legally employed.  Thus, Otto arranges for Beldar to get a fake social security card and a new identity.  Beldar becomes Donald R. DeCicco and Prymaat becomes Mary Margaret Rowney.  At the same time, Beldar and Prymaat finally establish communications with Remulak.  Speaking with Marlax Zanthstrom (Phil Hartman), Beldar is embarrassed to say that their vehicle has been destroyed.  As a sort of punishment, Marlax tells them that they must wait a while for rescue.  This also puts off the impending invasion.  Speaking of invasion, Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) Deputy Commissioner Gorman Seedling (Michael McKean) is constantly worrying about people infiltrating the United States.  Apparently, the name “Donald R. DeCicco” has been a consistent sore spot for INS.  Wanting to make a name for himself, when Deputy Seedling is brought the DeCicco case by his assistant, Agent Eli Turnbull (David Spade), the ambitious deputy decides to make it his mission to catch this repeat offender.  They first find the Clorhone’s trailer, but the aliens flee when they see the authorities closing in on their humble abode.  From there, Beldar starts working as a cab driver while Prymaat is pregnant.  Like other immigrants before them, they feel like their rundown apartment is not a suitable home in which to raise a family.  Prymaat points out that all their hard work has earned them enough money to purchase a new home.  At the same time, she goes into labor, giving birth to a daughter, Conjaab “Connie” Clorhone (Michelle Burke).  The new family leaves just before INS gets to their old apartment.  As Deputy Seedling and Agent Turnbull investigate another abandoned Clorhone abode, which they now suspect to once belong to visitors from outer space, Deputy Seedling is informed of a promotion.  Deciding to leave the DeCicco case to the next person in line, he moves on with his life and so to the Coneheads.  I use the title here because in their new life, the Clorhones decide to use the shape of their heads as a surname.  Otherwise, they settle into life as “typical” Americans, telling everyone that they come from France.  They raise Connie into her high school years as any other suburban teenager.  Beldar opens his own driving school, is a member of the local country club, and pals around with his neighbor, Larry Farber (Jason Alexander).  As for Prymaat, she fills the role of a housewife.  She has moments when she doubts Beldar’s fidelity, but those fears are put to rest and she maintains a loving atmosphere.  Things would have continued as normal if not for Deputy Seedling receiving a government hearing for yet another promotion, during which the DeCicco case is mentioned.  Indeed, it is the only thing preventing him from moving up.  Hence, he turns his complete attention to finally finding the aliens.  Beldar has other problems.  His daughter is falling in love with Ronnie Bradford (Chris Farley), a mechanic of whom Beldar does not approve.  It is a source of friction for them, mostly because she wants to stay with Ronnie instead of returning to Remulak with her parents.  On the night Remulak finally comes for them, Beldar and Prymaat catch Connie and Ronnie being intimate in the Remulak fashion.  At the same time, Deputy Seedling and Agent Turnbull get to their house intent on arresting the Coneheads.  Instead of being taken, the Coneheads are beamed up to their mother ship, with the INS officers hanging on to their car.  Upon getting to Remulak, Beldar’s Earth-like teeth insult their leader, Highmaster Mintot (Dave Thomas), who orders Beldar to fight the Garthok.  It is a monster, but Beldar vanquishes it using the golf skills he acquiresd on Earth.  For his victory, Highmaster Mintot grants Beldar a wish.  Beldar requests that he be given the privilege of leading the Remulak fleet in conquering Earth, to which Highmaster Mintot agrees.  However, upon landing on the planet, Beldar signals the rest that there is a problem, warning the other ships to retreat and blowing up his own.  With an agreement with Deputy Seedling to be left alone, the Coneheads return to their lives.  The final scene is of Ronnie taking Connie to a dance.

One would presume that the dance Connie and Ronnie are going to at the end of Coneheads would be at her high school.  That would make it a little weird, though, since I had the impression that he is supposed to be older than her.  Then again, saying anything in this movie is weird is useless.  The humor is supposed to be about how visitors from another planet would interpret American culture and adapt to it.  What they try to do is assimilate into Earth’s ways, while also remaining evidently alien.  Further, the film makes the comparison between their experience and those of illegal aliens from other countries coming into the United States.  Indeed, one can make the argument that the Coneheads’ story is not too dissimilar from other immigrants who have arrived in this country over the centuries.  The Catholic Church has been a part of that story, and in some ways is still treated like the Martian religion that it was seen as in the nineteenth century.  That the Church has been treated as so foreign for so long is part of the reason why other immigrants, regardless of their status, are dear to the Church.  Catholic missionaries have made it their mission to work with these communities.  Further, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has spoken out, especially in recent months, on the poor way the American government has been treating people who have come to this country, legally or illegally.  To put it lightly, they have been harassed on an unprecedented scale.  Their treatment makes what happens with the Clorhones look tame by comparison.  Then again, the most ironic scene comes when Deputy Seedling tells a group of refugees on a boat that they must turn around because our country has enough of their own problems.  I challenge you to demonstrate how that is Christ-like behavior.

All the same, it is the behavior that stands out in Coneheads.  What I mean by that is related to what I said at the beginning of the last paragraph about how the Clorhones look at everything through their own filter, hence the comedy.  This includes some innuendo, but nothing major.  In summation, I was pleasantly surprised by how entertained I was by this thirty-year-old movie.