Release Date: January 17, 2003
Starring: Jerry O'Connell, Anthony Anderson, Estella Warren, Marlon Csokas, Michael Shannon, and Christopher Walken
Directed by: David McNally
Written by: Steve Bing, Scott Rosenberg
Distributed by: Warner Brothers
MPAA Rating: PG (violence, language, sensuality)
There is a saying that if you put enough monkeys with enough typewriters in a room for long enough, they’ll eventually give you Shakespeare. If you ever wondered what happens to when you lock producers in a room with typewriters, just look at the disaster known as Kangaroo Jack.
From beginning to end, Jack lacked creativity, good characters, humor, and smart dialogue. Since he was a kid, Charlie Carbone (Jerry O’Connell), a New York hairstylist, has been doing Louis Fucci (Anthony Anderson) favors -- Louis once saved Charlie from drowning. But now that Charlie’s mom has married a mob boss (Christopher Walken), Charlie’s life has gotten more demanding. Like when Louis drags Charlie into the outback to deliver $100,000 for the mob.
Things, of course, don’t go exactly as planned. A kangaroo gets hold of the money and hops off into the desert. Charlie and Louis then enlist help of Jessie (Estella Warren), an animal expert, to get the money back before some decidedly un-Steve Irwin blokes catch up with them.
You can pretty much expect the usual antics that make children laugh, like the ever-popular flatulence gags or a drunken pilot crashing in the desert after being shot with a stun dart. For older viewers, though, there is little excitement or suspense in the film. Perhaps the only laughs worth mentioning are a few funny scenes relating to the mirages that a delusional Charlie sees in the desert.
It’s obvious the producers were banking on the combined talents of O’Connell and Anderson to deliver a fun buddy-flick atmosphere, but they may have relied on this pairing too much. O’Connell has never really established himself as a big-screen leading man, and Anderson, restricted from using the foul-mouthed demeanor that garnered so many laughs in Me, Myself & Irene, isn’t much better.
A love story was also attached, as always, which posits the stunning Warren opposite the goofy O’Connell. This storyline moves along just as awkwardly as the computer-generated kangaroo, but in the process Warren surprisingly posts her best performance to date (she has almost double the dialogue of her first two films, Driven and Planet of the Apes, combined).
Still, this film isn’t for anyone above the age of 13 unless, perhaps, a trip to Australia is in your plans and you want to see some places to visit. Even for the under-13 crowd, there isn’t much excitement. Kangaroo Jack may steal the money, but he doesn’t steal the show.
all contents © 2003 Michael J. Eiff