Coyote vs. Acme.

Review #2576: Coyote vs. Acme.

Cast: 

Will Forte (Kevin Avery), Lana Condor (Paige Avery), John Cena (Buddy Crane), Eric Bauza (Bugs Bunny, Charlie Dog, Daffy Duck, Dr. Peter Lorre, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, Gossamer, Porky Pig, The Road Runner, Tweety, Pepé Le Pew), Candi Milo (Granny, Witch Hazel, Miss Prissy), Jim Cummings (the Tasmanian Devil), Tone Bell (Sal Maltese), Martha Kelly (Dottie Jones), Luis Guzmán (Judge Troppogrosso), P. J. Byrne (Bill Pelicanos), John Early (Henry Heslop), Nancy Linehan Charles (Cherry), Kenneth Choi (Oscar Jeon), and Ernie Vigil (Talon) Directed by Dave Green.

Review: 

“You got away with it. You robbed the bank. You made a courtroom drama for kids starring Looney Tunes characters. In so many ways, this movie should not exist."

In 1990, there was a piece in The New Yorker called "Coyote v. Acme" by Ian Frazier that posed Wile E. Coyote (as originally created by Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese in 1949) suing the Acme Corporation for all of the defective products that he received from them in his failed pursuit of the Roadrunner (of course, it wasn't the first humor piece on the subject, National Lampoon did a piece in 1982*). As late as the 1990s, producers wanted to adapt it to the screen but it was only in the mid-2010s that Warner Bros. got the ball rolling. Dave Green (director of such films as Earth to Echo [2014] and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows [2016]) was signed on to direct in 2019; he got the job while positing if it could be akin to a true-crime documentary. Various people worked on the script for years: Samy Burch was credited for the screenplay while Burch, Jeremy Slater and James Gunn were given credit from the story (various "off-screen additional literary credits" were given to Alex Cuthbertson and Jacob Fleisher and Matt Fusfeld and Dan Goor and BenDavid Grabinski and Jon Silberman and Josh Silberman and Craig Wright, respectively). The DNEG studio was utilized for visual effects and computer animation while Duncan Studio was utilized specifically for select characters handled entirely in 2D. Initially, the movie was to be released in July 2023. Obviously, it did not meet that date, specifically because Warner Bros. Entertainment decided to take the $30 million tax write-off rather than release it (which also occurred with Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt). Eventually, in 2025, Ketchup Entertainment acquired the rights to the film for roughly $50 million (you might recognize that they previously had acquired the North American theatrical distribution rights for The Day the Earth Blew Up in 2024).

I really wanted to like the movie, honestly. With a 103-minute runtime that references the mythological figure Sisyphus numerous times and handily takes inspiration from "underdog courtroom movies" such as The Insider, Erin Brockovich and A Few Good Men, aa...and it felt only mildly funny to me. Have we raised the bar of "Looney Tunes but in the real world" from Looney Tunes: Back in Action [2003] (I refuse to even try to give "credit" to Space Jam)? Have we really moved so little that the high bar for integrating live action and animation is still Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) from nearly four decades ago? Is the bar so low that a movie daring to posit "the dangers of animal testing but with cartoon characters?" seems funny in the odd times we live in?* There are moments when the animation works pretty well in the live-action environment, and it specifically is when you don't have to look at a close-up cel-shaded animated face. I appreciate the time taken to try and work out gags (as noted here), which probably saves the film from basically being a face in the crowd, mainly since the biggest prominent talking cartoon character is basically Dr. Lorre and Bugs Bunny (this of course does not mean to disrespect Wile E. Coyote, who mainly communicates with signs as the dedicated fanatic of the chase*). It basically goes down to how much you like the time spent with Forte or Cena in the scenario presented of "cartoons just...live here among us", which actually might be funnier for the latter in terms of actual timing (not to take anything from Forte, but there are only so many "underdog" cliches to go around, especially when involves lawyers.). It wants to find the sweet spot between the court room and, well, not in the court room that is basically hit-or-miss (what secrets lie beneath "Project Sisyphus", oh gee). The eventual reveal (get it? cartoon violence can actually seem messed up when presented in a certain way?) bridges the movie from what had been a fairly sluggish middle and at least has the movie close on a high note (if you're making an underdog movie, might as well go with a postscript to patch things up). As a whole, it's the ultimate average movie in ambition versus execution, but with the way that Warner Bros. treated the movie, it is nice to see it around for someone to watch rather than being a tax write-off by idiots. So it goes. 

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day!

I apologize, of course, for how long it took to review this movie. I saw it on September 1 (Tuesday afternoon) but honestly wasn't feeling too great by the next day. As it turned out, I needed a tooth extraction, so please excuse the delay.

*And of course Night Court did a little gag with the Coyote in 1990 - Wile E. Coyote On "Night Court"

*What's next, Looney Tunes: Daffy and Bugs re-enacting the Civil War?

*Speaking of voices. Maybe I should see more cartoons, but I really don't care for Tweety. At least the Roadrunner doesn't speak when confronted with their counterpart (as opposed to Tweety vs. Sylvester). 

MacGruber.

Review #1680: MacGruber.

Cast: 

Will Forte (MacGruber), Kristen Wiig (Vicki Gloria St. Elmo), Ryan Phillippe (Lieutenant Dixon Piper), Val Kilmer (Dieter Von Cunth), Maya Rudolph (Casey Janine Fitzpatrick), Powers Boothe (Colonel Jim Faith), Timothy V. Murphy (Constantine Bach), Chris Jericho (Frank Korver), and Montel Vontavious Porter (Vernon Freedom) Directed by Jorma Taccone.

Review: 

"What you see with this movie is exactly what we wanted to do. It's the three of us having a bunch of fun writing it, then having fun making it with a bunch of our friends—old friends and new friends. I think that fun comes across when you watch it. It's rare that you get that kind of creative freedom."

I suppose there really should be a line that prefaces any review of a movie based on a sketch from Saturday Night Live, because really there is one easy statement to make: the level of humor to expect from a film like this depends on just what era of the show you grew up watching (so if you stop watching and come back to it like five or ten years later, you get to say that it wasn't as funny as the era you grew up with). Technically this is a bit unfair, because I did like The Blues Brothers (1980) and the Wayne's World (1992-93) movies. But one probably wouldn't be surprised to see that this was the first one of these SNL films to be released in theaters since The Ladies Man (2000) and it is currently the last one, although it is only now that the idea to develop MacGruber into television is happening. But you probably need some detail before we get into the quality of the movie, so what is exactly MacGruber? Well, believe it or not, I do remember this series of sketches, because even ten year old kids like me need something to do on Saturday nights. The series of sketches ran on-and-off for three years as a parody of the television series MacGyver (1985-1992), where the parody character (after a song extolling the talents of said character that can get stuck in your head) would try to escape a dangerous situation with little time remaining in a control room with some sort of random material while he is plagued by some sort of internal issue (such as say...growing bald or his grandmother) before the bomb explodes. The star of the actual show (Richard Dean Anderson) even made an appearance, for which child-me would have been pretty surprised by (insert reference to Stargate SG1 here). For what its worth, the only other recurring short I remember from the time was something involving cats with lasers, so one wonders where the time has gone. At any rate, the idea for MacGruber came from Jorma Taccone, who had joined SNL in 2005 that was known for his work in the comedy troupe The Lonely Island, which would create numerous digital shorts for the series until 2014 (the next film that Taccone would direct featured the troupe with Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping in 2016). He pitched the original idea to Forte and John Solomon for a month before finally convincing them to conceive a series of brief films (as opposed to one sketch). SNL creator Lorne Michaels eventually suggested that they should develop a script for a film (if one can do a commercial with Pepsi and make it stick, truly a movie isn't too far off). Taccone, Solomon, and Forte would set out to make a movie that looked like an action movie (in the vein of stuff like Die Hard and First Blood) while honing to a cheap budget ($10 million, with less than 1/50th of it being used for special effects) while shooting it in the course of a month.

So yes, one can credit the filmmakers for having the freedom to do what they wanted with a comic relief lead that has to balance the line between insanely flawed and likeable enough to see all the way through for 91 minutes. The film was a flop, but it has certainly developed a small cult following in the decade since its release (one notable fan: Christopher Nolan). Take this anyway you wish: It might be the Freddy Got Fingered of its decade, where it just isn't my kind of thing, but I can at least understand the appeal for it despite finding it below quality. In other words, you can misunderstand all you want, but it can't hide the fact that it isn't even as clever in trying to have fun with the action genre as Last Action Hero (1993). Honestly, there isn't anything here that is remotely interesting when it comes to its supposed unpredictability or its attempts at balancing strait-laced folks like Kilmer and Boothe (the highlights of the movie) with the wackos in Forte and Wiig that seems more useful in less does on television. I think it is the brief time one spent with the sketches that made them more effective than what happens when you try to extend something that should have stayed at a minute. But hey, someone might think of it as akin to those parody movies like Airplane! (1980), or maybe an offshoot of other attempts at making fun of action movies like Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993, which I should probably re-watch at some point), or maybe even Big Trouble in Little China (1986), although I should mention that each actually have a real third act. Or maybe it will touch those who are familiar with an insecure lead in action with Archer, although that is funny for its own reasons. For me, the main joke doesn't stick at any point long enough to keep my interest, one that drags itself in the guise of edge with the depth of a shallow pool. One knows Forte can be funny, because one doesn't stay on a series for a decade without having some staying power, but here it just seems like a fun time for Forte and little else for those who think the character needs to take a trip to the trimmers. One can only tolerate insecurity for so long before a stick of celery gets involved, so this little game of buildup and humiliation rides on the viewer's patience for it. Wiig is used for a bit of singing and doing disguises that has the energy of a hit-or-miss gag, which is up to your preferences (meh is the only word I can find). Phillippe plays the straight man to this trio, one that has to put some sort of gravitas to the stuff around him, which hits with the power of a defective broomstick. It is Kilmer that actually shines over these folks, mostly because his dry delivery seems more prescient for what one could see in an overblown action movie in actually seeming funny for what is needed that might have deserved even more time on screen. Boothe plays it as one might see in a cheap 80s movie, which is collected but worth your time. There is a group of wrestlers used for a cameo that goes exactly the way you might see coming a minute before it happens in the gag, which is rather disappointing. Look, if you find it to be a funny movie, all power to you. But it begs for a polish in its lead presence, racked with gags that are very hit or miss that makes it quite niche and cliché at the same time. The only thing that offends me more is something unbearably bland, one that is only for a particular audience that probably likes some of the stuff I prefer when it comes to jokes that land that clearly could have been said in less than a thousand words that could have been said in seven: It just isn't my kind of comedy.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.

Beerfest.

Review #1122: Beerfest.

Cast: 
Jay Chandrasekhar (Barry Badrinath), Kevin Heffernan (Phil "Landfill" Krundle / Gil "Landfill" Krundle), Steve Lemme (Steve "Fink" Finkelstein), Paul Soter (Jan Wolfhouse), Erik Stolhanske (Todd Wolfhouse / Young Baron Ludwig), Nat Faxon (Rolf), Will Forte (Otto), Ralf Möller (Hammacher), Mo'Nique (Cherry), Eric Christian Olsen (Gunther), Jürgen Prochnow (Baron Wolfgang von Wolfhausen), Cloris Leachman (Great Gam Gam Wolfhouse), Donald Sutherland (Johann von Wolfhaus), Blanchard Ryan (Krista Krundle), and Gunter Schlierkamp (Schlemmer) Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar (#1121 - Super Troopers)

Review: 
Beerfest is the fourth film from Broken Lizard, released two years after Club Dread (2004), with the inspiration for this movie being a chugging contest at a beer garden in Australia that the group had. Admittedly, this is a film that does have the standards of a mediocre sports movie, just piled with a bunch of gags throughout an 110 minute run-time. The main five do manage to create a fair bit of laughs, for the most part. Soter and Stolhanske serve as the leads for the bare story that accompanies the film, each doing okay with what's given. Chandrasekhar carries this character of talented pathetic nature with competence. Heffernan is fairly entertaining at times. Lemme does okay, although some of the gags with him prove a bit too obvious. Leachman provides some warmth for brief but welcome times. The other members of the cast have their moments of amusement, although nothing too particularly greatly funny. The adversaries (highlighted by Forte) do prove serviceable, silly in their toughness that can be appreciated. For me, I felt that while the first third worked fine with its setups, the other parts come off a bit sluggish, with the pacing not working particularly well with what probably could've been a shorter experience. By the time it gets to the climax with its competition, it's more of a stagger than a sprint. The competition is fine, having a fair amount of amusement (and things you'd expect) that make it fairly worth it, I suppose, and it ends neatly enough without being too forced. Thinking back to Super Troopers (which was seven minutes shorter) reminded me that while it wasn't always a consistent film to go with, it seemed to gel better with its gags and pace that seemed a bit less tiring overall. For people looking for something wild and silly, this may prove up your alley well enough, particularly if you are in the right flavor/mood for something like this. For me, I thought it was an okay venture, but it isn't consistent enough to really think of it as a clearheaded winner.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Nebraska.

Review #635: Nebraska.

Cast
Bruce Dern (Woody Grant), Will Forte (David Grant), June Squibb (Kate Grant), Bob Odenkirk (Ross Grant), Stacy Keach (Ed Pegram), Mary Louise Wilson (Aunt Martha), Missy Doty (Noel), and Angela McEwan (Pegy Nagy) Directed by Alexander Payne.

Review
This is a movie that manages to be both heartfelt and sometimes hilarious. This movie belongs to Bruce Dern, he manages to make every moment count, and he's even fun to watch when he's not talking, such as the denture scene, though my favorite scene is the Mount Rushmore scene because watching Dern's character describe it as a bunch of rocks that look unfinished is simply beautiful. The black and while photography makes the movie look crisp and gives the movie a tone of its own, which matches the dreariness of the characters and the landscape to an extent, but the movie is still interesting to look at. The characters are interesting to watch, living in a small state without much to do, but they all have their unique flair to it. Forte is actually a pretty good lead, and he works extremely well with Dern, that's what makes the movie work, the relationship of the two characters. The movie isn't just a trip to Nebraska, it's a chance to see layers of Dern's character get revealed, the good and bad, making for an emotional, if not somewhat funny film. The graveyard scene actually does provoke some laughs, I guess it because of June Squibb, who is essentially the only sane person in the movie, next to Forte. The movie is somewhat soothing in a way, but it is at heart charming, and a good way to spend your time, especially to see Bruce Dern.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.