Ever since TROPIC THUNDER, I have longed to see Jack Black once again running through a jungle in a state of hysteria. I love that film and I have similarly good feelings about his return to the jungle in ANACONDA. I have been using “Don’t judge me”, his plaintive cry during a fraught moment in THUNDER, for lo these many years, and I find his new catch phrase, uttered in more calmly if under no less duress, equally endearing (and useful). That would be “Oh, why?”, and it pops up during a similar jaunt through the flora and fauna.
Throughout ANACONDA, Black’s character refers to his opus, his eponymous film-within-the-film, as a spiritual sequel to 1997’s action/horror camp fest of the same name. And considering that original’s quality, a comedy was the perfect way to go. Leaving it at that would, however, have missed so many opportunities, few of which are overlooked in this tribute/spoof that is part paean to the obsession of the creative spirit and part the consequences that arise when it is thwarted.
In the case of Doug (Black), it was teenage dreams of becoming a filmmaker that somehow morphed into a safe but boring desk job with a side business making wedding videos with high school pal Kenny (Steve Zahn) Alas, Doug’s creative vision overreaches the assignments, leaving clients flabbergasted, and the prospect of success in a B+ life leaves him firmly on the road to quiet desperation. Just as he teeters on the edge of giving up all his youthful aspirations, Griff (Paul Rudd), his old high-school pal and star of his teen films, drops back into his life in Buffalo with an idea so crazy that is might just work. Not really, but past and possible future glory prove irresistible to Doug.
Griff, who moved to LA in search of stardom, is still scraping along, and also suffering from an artistic vision that overreaches his assignments, but through a series of wild coincidences, he has secured the rights to ANACONDA, the one they loved as 13-year-olds. Over a diner breakfast, his unbridled enthusiasm sweeps up Doug, as well as their old filmmaking team of Claire (Thandiwe Newton), Griff’s newly divorced ex-girlfriend as the once and future leading lady, and Kenny as the once and future cameraman. Even Doug’s wife (Ione Skye) thinks he should take his shot. And so, with a script banged out in a fit of inspiration (and special effects) and borrowed money these four city folk head for the deepest part of the Amazon for a three-week shoot that they are certain will bring them cinematic glory.
It would be easy for the film to make sport of these dreamers, and yet it is never less than sympathetic to these characters’ commitment to the project and certainty of its success. The absurdity of the situation is tempered with their glee at finally living their dreams. We know it’s ridiculous, even before we meet snake-handler Santiago (Selton Mello) and his borderline inappropriate relationship with his anaconda, Heitor. Ditto, the subplot involving a winsome Ana (Daniela Melchior, with the Ana for anaconda), who is on the run from men with guns, that intrudes on the quartet and makes her the captain of the boat they have rented to take them upriver. Their belief in the mission is uplifting, even as the inevitable mishaps pile the one upon the other, forcing them to, in true Hollywood fashion, to make it up as they go along. By the end, many Hollywood cliches have been embraced even as they are lampooned with extreme prejudice, and Doug finally finds a theme to make a social horror the critics will embrace. All the while, the men-with-guns play on cinematic idioms with impish impunity as twists occur both to satisfy the tropes of an action/adventure and the goals of a filmmaker who loves the genre enough to send it up with something akin to reverence.
The trick is to play the story straight, and so director Tom Gormican does, as do his actors, who bring more than a tinge of bittersweet melancholy to their performances, all the better to bring out the laughs, of which there are plenty. He also celebrates the actors’ own quirks, from Black using his dramatically arched foot to emphasize a point, to Zahn’s mopey man-child. Still, there is discipline. If Mello deliciously skirts the shoals of camp describing Santiago’s abiding love for his snake, the others are more measured in contrast. Rudd as a fading beauty counting down his last days to fulfill his dream of being a leading man, Newton as a lawyer leading an unrewarding life, Zahn as the dim-bulb with a heart of gold and the judgement of a newt, but especially Black, who plays broadly when necessary, eyebrows scuttling with the kinetic abandon, who reins himself in just enough to make Doug’s quest laudable and laughable at the same time. His Doug deals with egos, the elements, and sudden disasters with relentless gumption that at one point leads them all out into the jungle in the middle of the night. Relentless, further alas, does not mean smart.
ANACONDA has an infectious love of movies and moviemaking that infuses each frame. It dares to be adorable as well as deadly, which is only right in a film about a snake the size of an Amtrak train and the innocent fools who have chosen to be in the wrong place at the worst possible time. It may deal in cliches and idioms, but it’s a fresh and sprightly piece of filmmaking that might bring a whole new appreciation (of sorts) to the original.
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