The truth is out there…. Or is it?

Out There (1995)

IMDB meta-data is runtime of 1h and 38m, rated 5.3 by 537 cinematizens.

Genre: Sy Fy.

DNA: USA.

Verdict: Trailer trash prevails.

Tagline: The truth is out there. 

One-hit wonder photographer collects old cameras and occasionally they have film in them, which he develops, invariably family snaps.  After a particularly bad day, for diversion he buys a Box Brownie from a yard sale, a camera of no interest but a salve to his bruised ego on the day, and, yes, it has film in it, and, yes, he develops it, and…..these are not family snaps.  

The Brownie film, conveniently dated to August 1969, shows, yep, an alien abduction of two good ole boys who were out deer hunting in the primeval forest dark and deep. Conscientiously, the snapper tries to interest the Air Force in investigating, but Project Blue Book, which was never a book and not blue, has been closed.  No budget for checking every cockeyed hysterical claim. Then he tries selling them to a news agency executive who laughs them off as fakes.  

Fakes they may be but strange things start happening around him, and off he goes with the now grown-up daughter of one of the supposed abductees who never did return home.  The plot is a Möbius strip that keeps returning to the point of origin, until…!  

There are many smiles and few laughs along the way, and some star turns by some stars, including a caricature of Jean-Paul Sartre, and Tiffany Case. (See the full cast list.)  

Unpretentious, unassuming, diverting, and sharp with an appealing cast and some complicated plotting.  Moreover, it has a nice story about — believe it or not, Ripley! — Richard Nixon. 

Pedants corner: yes, I know why it was called blue.  Do you?