Date: July 25
Location: Muvico Boynton Beach

I have no idea why any studio greenlit or released this movie, and I say that as a die-hard X-Files fan. We’re talking about a show that went off the air six years ago and probably should have gone off the air a couple years before that. Who on earth did they think was the audience for this movie? My wife and me and about 25 other people, based on box office returns.

But setting aside the mystery of its very existence, how is the movie itself?

If you’ve never watched the show, it’s probably terrible. The plot is a strage mishmash of Silence of the Lambs and Frankenstein, with the FBI investigating the kidnappings of single women by a sicko interested in them for spare parts. The paranormal connection comes in the form of an apparently psychic pedophile priest (an effective Billy Connolly) who feels some connection to the crimes. Not much of this makes sense, and the mystery and payoff are largely unsatisfying.

If you were a fan of the show, though, you were most likely a fan of the relationship between Mulder and Scully. And on that level, the film is a success. Watching them interact as a couple, knowing their long, dark history, is a treat. A subplot regarding Scully’s work at a Catholic hospital is more rewarding than the main plot because it explores her religious faith and sheds a little light on a loss she and Mulder have suffered. The show always tiptoed around the fact that these two characters were deeply in love with each other so it’s nice to see that finally presented as a fact.

I can’t recommend The X-Files: I Want to Believe as a film, but as a chance to spend two hours with two old friends it’s a real treat.