Anaconda, watched through a Jack Black filter — 7 snakes out of 10
Walk into this one expecting an Anaconda movie and you're going to have a bad time. Walk into it expecting a Jack Black movie that happens to be wearing an Anaconda costume, and you'll have a good one. That's the whole secret, and it's the filter you have to put on before the opening credits or none of it lands.
The setup is two lifelong best friends, played by Jack Black and Paul Rudd, hitting a midlife crisis and deciding the fix is to finally go remake their all-time favorite movie themselves, out in the Amazon. It is exactly as dumb as that sounds, and that is exactly the point.
#It's making fun of itself the whole time
This isn't a movie that accidentally got silly. It was built silly, on purpose, with both eyes open. It's poking fun at itself, at the original, at the whole idea of grown men chasing a childhood dream into a swamp. When a movie is that aware of what it is, you can either climb on board or stand on the bank and judge it, and I climbed on board.
Once you're on board, it's just plain funny. Not clever-funny that you nod at, actual laughs. The jokes mostly land, and a lot of them land because the movie isn't trying to convince you it's anything more than a goofy time. There's a real freedom in a movie that already knows it's ridiculous. It's got nothing to protect, so it just goes for it.
#Black and Rudd are the whole engine
The cast is great across the board, but the thing running the show is the chemistry between the two leads. Black and Rudd play off each other like guys who've actually been friends since they were kids, which is the exact thing the movie needs you to believe. You buy the friendship, so you buy the dumb plan that comes out of it, so you go along for the rest. Take those two out and there's no movie here. With them in it, the silliness has a heartbeat.
#The catch, said plainly
Here's the honest caveat. You've got to like Jack Black. If his whole deal wears on you, this movie is a long swim, because it's a Jack Black movie down to the bones. And you've got to be willing to switch your brain off at the door. Don't go looking for tight plotting or a reason it all makes sense. Go for the bit, stay for the bit, and don't poke at it.
That's not everybody's idea of a good night, and that's fine. The critics and the regular crowd split hard on this one, and the gap is basically the filter I'm talking about. The people who took it for what it is had fun. The people who wanted a real movie didn't.
#The verdict
Seven snakes out of 10. It's not trying to be great and I'm not going to grade it like it was. For what it set out to do, which is be a dumb, warm, self-aware good time carried by two guys who are clearly having a blast, it nails it. Put the filter on, turn your brain off, and let it be silly at you. I had a good time, and I think the right person will too.