PHOTO PROVIDED Martians arrive on Earth for the first time in 1996’s “Mars Attacks.”

My roommate seemed to have been on a movie watching kick this week. From “Silence of the Lambs” to “American Psycho” and others I’m sure I wasn’t around to watch with her. On Monday night, however, she picked one movie in particular that she insisted I watch — “Mars Attacks.”

“Mars Attacks” is a Tim Burton film released in 1996 and features a plethora of well known names like Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Michael J. Fox, Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan, Danny Devito, Natalie Portman, Jack Black and Martin Short. It tells the story of how the American government attempted to handle the arrival of the Martians.

From the start, things seem alright. President James Dale (Nicholson) is excited to make first contact with the tiny green men that have surrounded the planet. And on his side is Press Secretary Jerry Ross (Short) and Professor Donald Kessler (Brosnan) while other members of his military are extremely wary of the aliens.

After making first contact via phone, the Martians send coordinates to a desert in Nevada where they plan to touch down.

Things go well at first, the tiny, strange creatures even say “We come in peace” in their strange language consisting only of the word “Ack.”

However, all hell breaks loose when the Martians begin to fire on the civilians, turning them into green and red skeletons. Multiple members of the press are taken out too, including Fox’s character Jason Stone. Meanwhile, Parker’s character — talk show host Nathalie Lake — and her dog are kidnapped and experimented on by the aliens.

Now, you’d think that would be the end of it right? That, as a country, we’d decide to take up arms and fight back against the Martians. Think again!

Instead, with pushing from Kessler and a few others, the president decides to invite the aliens to Congress. You can imagine how well that goes.

While the world governments are falling to shambles thanks to some pretty ridiculous life choices (Seriously… after the aliens murdered a bunch of people unprovoked it feels like diplomacy might be out the window) we’ve got a few side quests.

Former heavy weight champ turned casino mascot Byron Williams (Jim Brown) is just attempting to get from Nevada to Washington, DC to see his wife and kids; and when things go belly up in a major way he’s joined by another cast of characters in an attempt to reach a plain to freedom.

Meanwhile, Richie Norris (Lukas Haas) — whose brother Billy-Glenn (Black) was killed in the first Martian attack — and his grandmother are discovering a way to rid the Earth of these “ack, ack, ack-ing” little green men.

All in all, “Mars Attacks” is what “Independence Day” — which was released just six months earlier — would have been if world governments hadn’t immediately reacted to the mass murder of its citizens.

It really takes the idea of alien invasion and makes it extremely camp and kind of fun. The martians really don’t have a huge agenda it seems, they just decided after centuries of watching humans exist that they wanted to take the planet.

However ridiculous it seems, or how much it sometimes doesn’t make sense, it’s a really entertaining movie. The CGI and some other special effects definitely didn’t hold up well, but that’s what makes it even more enjoyable in my opinion.

And to have pulled all this off with so many recognizable names in Hollywood? Even more impressive for Mr. Burton and his co-producer Larry Franco.

So, if you’re in the mood for a fun and entertaining hour and 46 minutes, look no further than “Mars Attacks.” I know I’m certainly glad I was introduced to it.

“Mars Attacks” is rated PG-13 and may be watched on Amazon Prime, HBO Max, YouTube, Google Play, Apple TV and Vudu.

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Laura Jameson is Managing Editor of The Express.