Anaconda

3 outta 5

Anaconda is a decently funny meta take on the corny 1997 Anaconda film. In this movie the characters have a reverence for the original film and debate if they are making a remake, reboot, spiritual sequel, which signals what this is going to be. The chemistry of the leads are very fun, the meta references to filmmaking and the original Anaconda movie get some laughs, and there is oversized snake carnage. Riffing on the obsession with franchise films that may get a little too cute but overall this is entertaining messy fun.

Doug (Jack Black) is a wedding videographer who has given up on his dreams of Hollywood fame and fortune and is trying to make himself content at his job. His childhood buddy, Ron (Paul Rudd) is a background actor who can’t break out of his small-time roles. When Ron brings Doug a childhood VHS movie they worked on, it makes Doug feel happy again. Ron says that he has secured the rights to the film Anaconda and they should shoot a remake on the Amazon. They bring along their good friend Claire (Thandiwe Newton) and Doug’s videographer buddy, Kenny (Steve Zahn). They hire a snake handler, Carlos (Selton Mello) and get a boat from Ana (Daniela Melchior) to film their movie. But Ana is being chased by unknown dangerous people, and the crew runs into very real problems when some very real and very large and very dangerous snakes are following them.

Rudd’s Ron gets in a lot of funny bits about gig working. He’s introduced as a guy playing “Doctor Number 3” and he’s working himself into how he should deliver his one line, so by the time he gets on set, he starts imitating the lead’s British accent or saying the lines terribly. He promptly gets fired and sulks off until he sees the poster for 1997’s Anaconda and the plan forms in his mind. One of the movie’s best gags is when they are on their crummy little boat and they see a large boat with a Hollywood crew, also filming a reboot of Anaconda. The crew turns to Ron, realizing his story about owning the rights is bunk, and he meekly says, “Who really owns the rights to Anaconda?” and Claire snaps back “Sony!”

Rudd’s shows how Ron has a heart and dreams of hitting the big time but he just keeps screwing up. Even though this is a no budget film, they’re still filming behind the scenes for the “DVD extras” and they come off as amusingly pompous, saying all these trite sound bites about filmmaking from any BTS feature. Claire just sort of goes along for the ride as she had dreams of acting and she used to date Ron, and while they are filming their chemistry starts to come back. Newton does sincere well, but she’s the best when she’s incredibly aggravated and annoyed at the guys for making dumb decisions. Their filmmaker buddy, Kenny, is a weird guy and Zhan maxes out the weirdness like when him being pee shy is a life-or-death situation. And he keeps getting wasted which screws up Doug’s business. Although Kenny says he has it handled as he’s now “Buffalo Sober” which is only beer, wine and some of the lighter liquors. Mello as Carlos the snake handler gets in some surprising depth when talking about his snake, and Melchior as Ana has a couple of cool plot twists and Doug becomes so infatuated with her as an actor it alienates the entire crew.

Black’s Doug is a wistful wannabe filmmaker and when it is shown how happy he is to see their old movies, his wife remarks that he lights up like she hasn’t seen in years. It is nice that Black conveys a sincere moment which is a funny contrast to how crazy things get in the jungle. There are still a bunch of moments whenever Black starts screaming, it sounds like he’s going to start singing. He doesn’t, but that’s just the inflection of his voice, although he does have a bit when he’s describing filmmaking and he’s basically beat-boxing the musical score. There is the final scene in the movie when Doug meets someone who can change the course of his life, and the actor is perfect, and his reaction is awesome, ending the film on a cheerful note.

There are a bunch of funny references to the original film, as they all note about how crazy Jon Voight is (which is true, Voight’s performance in the OG is bananas). Although this Anaconda never tries to match him for villainy or weirdness, the infatuation the snake handler has with his snake comes close.  There are some actors from the first film and their returns are awesomely placed. And some scenes are bonkers, like when the crew thinks Doug is dead, so they use him as “bait” to lure the snake and it goes horribly wrong when Doug wakes up. The snake carnage in the film is crunchy and there is a lot of exploding in the finale that is comedically cathartic. This Anaconda manages to be both reverent remake / legacy sequel and a parody of the original film and filmmaking in general. With lots of quips and giant snakes.