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SYNOPSIS:
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the "protein packs" used by the mouth workers use the same sound effects as the proton packs from ghostbusters.
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MOVIE FACT:
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osmosis jones is a maverick white blood cell cop, paired with a no-nonsense partner, a cold tablet. the two must protect their human host, frank, when frank catches a cold.
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RATING:
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one out of four possible stars
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An interesting premise and a crop of funny actors cannot save a script that's not too bright and a subject that really makes you wanna look away from the screen. And by subject, I'm not talking about bodily functions. No, I'm talking about the usually funny Bill Murray. He's just not what you'd expect in this film. His acting just leaves something to be desired. He's usually really pretty amusing. But his lines didn't make me laugh when I was watching this movie in the theater. Perhaps that's the script's fault. Or maybe he's just not delivering them well enough.
It looks like the farrelly brothers just can't get ahold of a funny script. For living beings anyway. Because this film is pretty interesting and even funny most of the time when we're not outside Bill Murray's body. Inside, it's an entirely different movie. The characters are interesting and although the story is pretty standard (it's just a cop story), the idea is something that would be a lot more attractive if Bill Murray and the other people who co-star with him in the real world were not in the movie. They're not interesting and nobody really gives a good performance.
For example, the character of "Bob," played by Chris Elliott is just annoying. With his appalling choices in picking films to act in over the last decade, it's not hard to see why he picked this film. Hey! It's a film with fart jokes and some actors in it who have no chemistry (want evidence that this guy can't pick 'em? just go watch: Scary Movie 2, The Weber Show, Snow Day . . . I could go on) And the girl who plays murray's daughter in this film, Elena Franklin, really can't act all that well. She's just kind of annoying throughout most of the movie.
I bet that's why the casting director picked her. She's just like Murray. Then again, maybe it all comes back to the script. No, I don't think so. She just can't act. Her words are forced and she comes off being fake. Of course she's no Kate Hepburn, but I'm sure there was a more believable child actor available than the one the filmmakers picked. This film is very ambitious and sometimes becomes engaging, but more often than not, the story moves into Farrelly brothers territory. Ever since There's Something About Mary, I've had a personal vendetta against these Brothers. How can two people make such bad films and get so many more deals from those bumpkins in Hollywood?
Perhaps I might have a more positive attitude towards this film if the story didn't get so gross ever few minutes. The story inside Bill Murray's body is just much more interesting than what's going on outside. The animation is innovative and Chris Rock really gives a good performance as "Ozzy," the police cop blood cell who must track down the evil virus, played by the equally good Laurence Fishburne.
I think that the farrelly brothers really missed an opportunity to make a great film here by making this story so dependent on the fart jokes. The set designer (or animation's equivalent) really created a world for the inside of Bill Murray's body that keeps you pretty interested for the times of the movie when you're inside. There are highways that run upside down and the buildings move and breathe like grass on a hilltop whenever something's going on inside murray's body. It really is creative, but every few minutes, you're taken out of this world and plunked into the real world where Bill Murray gets to gross the audience out with his flatulence and bad jokes.
Perhaps you could argue that without these bodily functions, you really couldn't do a movie about the inside of the body. But I don't think that's true. The filmmakers could have done a couple of things to keep from alienating some of their audience (well, anybody over ten years old). First off, they could have cast somebody else in bill murray's role. Shoot, he was just stoned in this film. They could have also just kept the live action sequences to the beginning and end of the movie. Yhat way, all the bodily functions would have been seen from inside the body, animated instead of real. Those farts are a lot easier to take when you don't have to look at a real live fart.
But there are some fun parts of this film. There are a few redeeming spots. That's why I gave this movie one star. I hesitated giving it a lemon, because I did enjoy some of this film. Chris Rock was funny, and Laurence Fishburn makes a good villain. He's a total pimp in this film. And the other people starring in the supporting roles inside the body are pretty good too. Brandy, William Shatner, and David Hyde Pierce do add a lot to the film and create an enjoyable ensemble cast. But hey, I'm just not going to forgive those brothers for taking what could have been a really interesting film and turning it into trashy humor.
Review by Kelsey Wyatt.
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