RETRO REVIEW
In 1994, "Seinfeld" writers Peter and Bobby Farrelly broke their way to the screen with the blockbuster Jim Carrey/Jeff Daniels comedy Dumb & Dumber. After the box-office failure of their bowling comedy, Kingpin (starring Woody Harrelson and Bill Murray), the Farrelly Brothers took a chance on rising star Ben Stiller and gave the world There's Something About Mary, their best-received film to date. Soon, they reteamed with Jim Carrey in what I personally think is Carrey's most underrated comedy, Me, Myself and Irene. And then came what most people believe killed their career and has kept it on life-support ever since; the live-action/animated comedy, Osmosis Jones. While most people think it is nothing more than a disgusting kids' movie, I think it's very funny and lovable.
Sloppy zookeeper Frank Detorre (Bill Murray) is a single father with one daughter, Shane (Elena Franklin). While she would like him to start taking better care of himself, Frank is largely selfish and impulsive though he does care deeply for his little girl. One day, at the zoo, Frank gets into a fight with a chimpanzee over a stolen hard-boiled egg. The egg falls from the chimp's lips and onto the filthy cage floor. As Shane watches horrified, Frank simply pops the egg into his mouth. What Frank doesn't know is that inside his body, a whole community of cells lives and works, trying to keep him safe from the dangers of disease. However, there is one white blood cell cop who thinks he can take on disease all by himself: Osmosis Jones (voice of Chris Rock). Due to Jones botching up a high-speed chase, Frank suddenly has a leg cramp.
However, a dangerous virus has arrived in "the City of Frank". Emerging from the contaminated egg that Frank ate is the deadly Thrax (voice of Lawrence Fishburne) with a master plan to kill Frank within 48 hours. After dispatching with the two cells who discovered him, Thrax causes Frank to have a sore throat. Trying to please the masses by keeping the situation under control, the scheming Mayor Phlegmming (voice of William Shatner) controls Frank subconciously to take a cold pill. The Chief of Police (voice of producer Joel Silver) orders Jones to meet the pill in the stomach and take him to the sore throat. There, he meets the cold pill himself, "Special Agent Drixobenzometapetramine" or Drix (voice of David Hyde Pierce). Drix is a no-nonsense investigator intent on performing the services for which he was made for. Arriving at the sore throat, Jones discovers that the sore throat may not have been as common as everyone has been led to believe. Following a clue, Ozzy and Drix begin their investigation. Soon, they get themselves hot on the trail of Thrax, who will destroy any cell that gets in his path.
I can see people being grossed out by the idea of being in Bill Murray's body. Peter Travers said in his review of the film, "Can your heart be warmed while your guts are being wrenched?" Another noticeable element of the film that critics pointed out was the difference in storytelling speed between the live-action sequences and the animation. As I've read, the animation was nearly finished when the Farrelly Brothers were brought in to shoot the live-action sequences. They only joined the film when Bill Murray was confirmed to star as Frank. One of my personal problems with the film is Uncle Bob, played by Chris Elliott. I assume Bob is supposed to be a cautionary tale because he is even more selfish and a slob than Frank is. Even so, there is no reason for the character to be near unlikable. Admittedly, both Murray and Elliott have been in better movies (most noticeably Groundhog Day). Another unlikable character in the film is Mayor Phlegmming. The character goes from being ridiculously full of himself to a flat-out jerk. One character even says, "You care more about your stupid re-election than you care about all our lives."
However, I do like this film more than most people. The animation looks really cool (especially the chase sequences which I think are top-notch), Bill Murray has a great gross-out performance, Lawrence Fishburne's Thrax is a fantastic villain, and the mystery is genuinely interesting. The locations in the body shown are imaginative with the stomach designed like an airport, the brain as a city hall, and "the Zit" as a nightclub. Also, the songs are somewhat catchy, but in this day and age, most of them are dated - except, of course, for Kid Rock. It's also the only movie we'll ever see with Captain James T. Kirk and Opie Taylor running for Mayor of Bill Murray's body. That just cracks me up personally. This movie isn't trying to hurt anybody, it's just good, messy fun. As the trailer says, "[It's] a dirty job, but some antibody's got to do it."NOTE: I apologize for the lack of reviews, I've had a lot of schoolwork to do and no time to go out to theaters! Trust me, I will try to have in more content in the coming weeks! I'm still writing for GeekTyrant and just landed a position with BleedingCool! Thanks for reading - Zack
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