This is a movie about flying saucers invading the vacation destination capital of the world -- Southwestern Orange County. It stars Alejandro Kontarovsky in the role he was quite simply born to play -- Young Man, a modern day tramp in a world of strange adversity. This is one of my favorite Dastoli movies, mainly because it's both hilarious and thrilling. Not only did Dastolis stuff it full of hidden gags and references to other Dastoli movies (as, let's face it, is their wont), they also put in all kinds of action. Everything from laser cannons and missiles to an extended sequence where our hero has to sneak around a lot and bring down an entire alien fleet singlehanded. But perhaps the action scene that tops them all is the part where he does math. Other awesome bits include a killer Sean Beeson score, amazing visuals from the opening logo to the closing credits, and Brian Feldman.

But the movie isn't just laughs and thrills and P. Sanchez cameos -- although it thankfully does have all those things -- it is also rich with social commentary. When the people of Southwestern Orange County are faced with technological annihilation and chemical extermination, they run out and buy lots of water and wood paneling. This is because that's what Floridians do when hurricanes are coming, so it's all they know. The fact that James and Robert understand this after living in Orlando for merely a couple years is nothing short of life-affirming. But that's not the only thing the people of Southwestern Orange County do. Some of them flee the city, and others stand around looking up. This demonstrates the versatile melting pot spirit of Orlando, the world's premiere vacation hot spot. We never learn why the saucers target this city specifically, but seeing all those fun landmarks... we can probably take a guess.

James and Robert have a long-standing love of theme parks. And the Imagigator theme park they've created here is a tribute to one of their favorite concepts -- progress. That is probably why, after the typically inept authorities fail to protect this monument of human achievement, it takes a man of science to do it.

The movie is not perfect. Probably the most glaring flaw here is the crowd scenes. Unable to put together the amount of extras necessary for a movie like this, James and Robert repeat the mistakes they were making as far back as Every Man Has His Price. As we cut between all the different locations in Southwestern Orange County, we can curiously spot what can only be described as an unsettling amount of doubles. There's a lot of Carl Fielers, quite a few Christy Rubensteins, a fair amount of Dastolis (who don't understand that a James and a Robert is essentially two of the same goddamn guy), and even two Alejandros standing right next to each other. This would be bad enough even if he weren't also playing THE MAIN CHARACTER OF THE MOVIE.

But perhaps those imperfections help give this movie its charm. They are proof of the movie's ultimate metaphor. James and Robert are part of a ragtag generation represented by the movie's Young Man. A voiceless youth with a passion for science, imagination, and progress. And as he sneaks around the theme park, stealing objects so he can fire his laser cannon and destroy the evil invaders, so do they sneak around the city, stealing locations so they can shoot their movies and capture our hearts.

Here is what the Dastolis have to say about Southwestern Orange County vs. the Flying Saucers:

JAMES:

"We need to make a feature version of this because I have a feeling that it will be the one thing that everyone remembers us for after we're dead. And the short don't cut it."

ROBERT:

"Originally we wanted to make Southwestern Orange County vs. the Flying Saucers go lightning fast and have a lot of quick cuts that came together in a movie that was only a few minutes long. If we did this we might have avoided some pacing issues (while creating new ones), but we wouldn't have been able to incorporate all of the gags, and people wouldn't have been able to get the full meaning behind the film (not that I expect anyone gets the full meaning now, as people are always so closed minded when it comes to our movies)."