It's a thin, tedious caper only notable for its impressive Outback locations and a cameo from Christopher Walken that proves the word 'no' isn't in his vocabulary.
Kangaroo Jack (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:110
Fresh:9
Rotten:101
Average Rating:3.3/10
Consensus: The humor is gratingly dumb, and Kangaroo Jack contains too much violence and sexual innuendo for a family movie.
Runtime: 89 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis:
Best friends Charlie Carbone [JERRY O’CONNELL] and Louis Fucci [ANTHONY ANDERSON] are both struggling to get ahead in life – but their approaches couldn’t be more different.
Louis is an eternal...
Best friends Charlie Carbone [JERRY O’CONNELL] and Louis Fucci [ANTHONY ANDERSON] are both struggling to get ahead in life – but their approaches couldn’t be more different.
Louis is an eternal optimist, which is a good thing considering he’s also a magnet for bad luck. Ever since he saved Charlie’s life 20 years ago, Louis has embroiled them in a series of shady get-rich-quick schemes, which has only compounded Charlie’s reputation as the ultimate loser in the eyes of his intimidating stepfather, mob boss Sal Maggio [CHRISTOPHER WALKEN].
More skeptical and low-profile than Louis, Charlie just wants to play by the rules, meet the right girl and make a success of his new business, which is tough with Sal skimming all the profits. But when Louis recruits Charlie to help him escort a truckload of stolen TVs across town, they inadvertently lead police straight to Sal’s warehouse, jam-packed with hot property.
Just when it looks like the guys might wind up sleeping with the fishes, Sal decides to give Charlie and his bumbling sidekick one last chance for redemption. All they have to do is deliver $50,000 cash to one of Sal’s associates in a remote outpost …the Australian Outback.
Goodbye Brooklyn, G’day Sydney!
After an adventurous plane flight and a scary brush with Customs, Charlie and Louis find themselves barrelling down a dusty road in the Aussie wilderness with the 50 grand stuffed in Louis’ lucky red jacket. Looks like things are finally starting to go their way when…THUMP! Their jeep hits a large kangaroo.
As the guys try in vain to revive the lifeless roo, they realize he resembles their buddy “Jackie Legs” back home in Brooklyn. Louis impulsively insists on dressing “Jackie” in his lucky red jacket and snapping a few photos.
Problem is…this kangaroo has a plan of his own.
Before Charlie and Louis can react, the feisty beast springs to life and bounces off across the desert at lightning speed wearing what has just become the most valuable jacket in Australia. To their horror, the kangaroo disappears into the vast scrubland, leaving them with no money, no car and no clue.
Enlisting the aid of Jessie [ESTELLA WARREN], a resourceful American wildlife conservationist, along with a drunken bush pilot and a herd of the most ill-mannered camels that ever lived, Charlie and Louis attempt to track the wily kangaroo across the dense Outback, capture him and retrieve the cash before Sal’s henchmen send them “down under”…permanently.
Starring: Jerry O'Connell, Anthony Anderson, Christopher Walken, Estella Warren
Starring: Jerry O'Connell, Anthony Anderson, Christopher Walken, Estella Warren, Dyan Cannon, Marton Csokas, Michael Shannon
Director: David McNally
Director: David McNally
Screenwriter: Steve Bing, Scott Rosenberg
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer
Composer: Trevor Rabin
Studio: Warner Bros.
Reviews for Kangaroo Jack
A competent and workmanlike action-adventure romp for kids, briefly enlivened by a funny cameo from Christopher Walken.
Parents beware: this film is too crude, violent and offensive for younger viewers.
The movie is crap, but no more so than you'd expect from something with [i]Kangaroo Jack[/i] on the title card and Jerry Bruckheimer's name under the producer credit.
Put it on a double bill with 1978's boxing kangaroo monstrocity Matilda and you've got yourself an evening of pure hell.
One of the most ill-thought-out cinematic exercises in a very, very long time.
When the kangaroo starts freestyle rapping, you know Charlie has lost it. And so have the people who made this film.
A movie that encapsulates all that is vulgar, stupid and repellent about the Hollywood mind-set.
Is it great? No. But it's a good movie for the whole family to lighten up a bit.
Will parents be able to sit through Kangaroo Jack without plunging sharp sticks into their eyes? The short answer? Yes. Barely.
The movie gives us frat-house-style sexual humor, flatulence jokes about camels, and a romantic subplot apparently intended to woo the female half of the audience.
Parents will be thoroughly bored, and kids will enjoy the flatulent camels and not much else.
The film's crude humor and violence -- cartoonish, but still violent -- should offend parents of younger kids. Yet its ultra-broad, pratfall-filled comedy will satisfy only the most indiscriminate teens.
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