fine whine

Let's talk about the film Looney tunes: back in action. It's not a very good movie at all. I never would have expected to see Steve Martin upstaged by Brendan Fraser, but that's what happens here. In fact Jenna Elfman (TV's Dharma) shows more range and versatility than the comedy veteran, who is reduced to some sort of evil nerd role with coke-bottle glasses, oily hair and pants that are too short. Alas, a stupid costume does not a character make, nor does the sort-of accent he half-assedly attempts help things.

Fortunately, he's not on screen much.

Unfortunately, Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are. Daffy's funny in small doses, but any scene lasting longer than, oh, twelve seconds, with him in it starts to grate. I vaguely recall him being somewhat abrasive in the original cartoons, but this was ridiculous (but not in a good way).

Tim Dalton is perfectly adequate as Brendan Fraser's spy-movie-actor father. That said, it's more interesting to look at the posters in his house than to watch him on screen to see actual humor. There and everywhere else the throwaway gags are better. I laughed hardest when Wile E. Coyote answered the telephone with a sign saying "HELLO?" which was just brilliant.

There's a scene about halfway through showing "Area 52" which is apparently where old movie monsters (and other curiousities) go to be stuck in jars. At one point Kevin MacCarthy staggers by clutching a pod and shouting "You're next!" for a quick gag. The flying brain from Fiend without a face drops by, just after the original gorilla suit/diving helmet mashup Robot monster's monster. Elsewhere Dr. Who's Daleks pop up, which I find ironic, in that evidently their creator has decided to not allow them to be in the new remake project, yet he apparently green-lighted them to be in this bomb.

Maybe he realized that their memory wouldn't be much more tarnished because nobody in their right mind wants to remember this movie, let alone to have watched it.