PREMISE
A group of friends is going through a midlife crisis. They decide to remake a favorite movie from their youth, but encounter unexpected events when they enter the jungle.
THE GOOD STUFF
RUDD & BLACK- Reliability and consistency are the names of the game with these two. You also know that these two actors seem to have comedic chemistry with just about any co-star that they’ve ever had, and that given that they’ve already co-starred together in a goofy comedy (shallow Hal) we are in good hands.
I would go so far as to say that you need comedy veterans like these to pull off such a goofy premise with such over-the-top humor. They deliver as they often do, mostly with silent facial expressions, slight winks to the audience, and scenes that are so ridiculous you can’t help but feel they are improvised. These two characters are playing the same man-children they always play. But that’s okay.
THE CHEESEINESS- I wouldn’t go so far as to call this film in homage to 1990 Cinema, but just as THE NAKED GUN did earlier this year, all of the thematic elements of this film are taken very seriously, except the CGI.
The CGI in this movie is absolutely trash, and I never thought I would say this, but the film is all the better for it. I actually thought I saw matte lines around the snake, and it made me laugh, along with everything else that was happening. Perfect kind of tone for this kind of silliness.
THE BAD STUFF
Daniela melchior– Melchior has only been in the game since 2018 so I’ve seen her in very few films. Those films are The suicide squad, guardians of the Galaxy vol 3, fast x, and a movie called assassin club. I mentioned that there is a trait in this performer that seems to annoy only me.
In all of those aforementioned films, she plays characters with a lot of physicality. She’s always running from something, or fighting something…. And her makeup and hair are always on point. There are scenes where she wakes up out of bed with her makeup and hair on fleek. She’s had dirt on her face from time to time, but she’s NEVER been on screen looking even slightly, remotely disheveled.
In this movie, she plays a person who lives in a Brazilian jungle, supposedly for years on end, and yet she still looks like a spokesperson for L’Oreal at all f****** times. This may be something that only bothers me,
THE UGLY STUFF
There are a couple of big surprises at the end of the film (I can’t even say what happens), and I hated the whole thing. When you see it, you will know what it is. It annoys me that I can’t speak on it, so I’m just hating for the sake of hating at this point.
**************
Ultimately, this is a movie that’s so much a tribute to the original ANACONDA that I want to see it again. I would want to see it again, not because it’s a better movie than I remember it being, no. But because that movie took itself so seriously that it was unintentionally funny, I think this film makes the original 1997 film even funnier all these years later. I think that’s the best compliment I could give this movie, and it’s completely well-earned.
ANACONDA is in theaters now
