Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Allen’ on Netflix, a Nightmare-Fuel Riff on ‘E.T.’

*Allen* is a Netflix comedy about a man reunited with the alien friend he met as a child. The Australian film riffs on *E.T.* and mixes childhood nostalgia with science-fiction comedy and darker, gross-out elements, but the review argues that it never settles on a clear tone.

As a child, Petey played with Allen, recorded the alien’s unusual powers and watched him leave Earth; decades later, Petey lives with family and sends signals into space in hope of seeing him again. Allen returns, but a revelation gives way to a carnival chase and comic scenes in human clothes. The reviewer finds the film’s ideas about nostalgia and ageing underdeveloped, with weak dialogue and characters, though it has occasional laughs and an amusing nod to *Mac and Me*.