Phil the Alien: Up top, almost everyone gives high marks to Rob Stefaniuk’s no-budget comedy about a wayward, drunken E.T., but there are a lot of ‘buts’ buried in the fine print.

Bruce Kirkland at the Toronto Sun nods to the 83-minute pic’s ‘scattergun’ and ‘cool to be Canadian’ farce – but – doesn’t think much of the broad comedy or the writer/director/star’s numerous ‘fall flat’ gags. It’s ‘nimble and funny,’ says the Toronto Star’s Peter Howell – but – ‘the obviously gifted Stefaniuk has bitten off more than he can chew,’ as evidenced by his overloaded script and ‘unsteady’ execution.

At The Globe and Mail, Leah McLaren cuts even more slack. Three stars and ‘bladder-squelchingly funny,’ she says, a ‘rural-alcoholic-hoser-cult-hit’ – but – don’t try to watch it after less than three joints. Variety was less kind. ‘Too choppy’ for any real laughs and it ‘won’t fly beyond the border,’ writes Eddie Cockrell. But? But nothing.