Pretty damn likeable. Should really be in a top Sci-Fi list.

What if E.T. and the Thing had a baby, and horribly, that baby was Jeff Bridges? That's Starman, proof that John Carpenter is a romantic at heart. Not unusually, Bridges goes all in as a sweet alien in human form, and Karen Allen grounds the film in a certain believability as the woman whose dead husband's body he took. Whether the romance between them works is up each individual viewer, as Carpenter merely presents the facts and lets them speak for themselves. There are no long-winded scenes to expressly tell us that Jenny finds solace and ultimately closure in this man that looks like the man she still grieves for, no lip-biting self-doubt about whether she's doing the right thing giving in to these feelings. Things happen, and they are informed by past events the audience has been made aware of, draw your own conclusions. So Carpenter is a romantic here, but not sentimental. I think that's why this movie stands the test of time.

Fun and pleasant, despite some cheesy moments. The plot does invite unflattering comparisons to E.T., but it has plenty of its own magic.