STN Entertainment

nothing was gained in
Rated PG
have to admit to being rather the translation.
Jungle 2 Jungle tells
confused by the new Disney
release Jungle 2 Jungle. No, the farcical story of a
not by the plot, which is as New York City com-
subtle as Tarzan's signature yo- modities broker (Allen)
del, but by the fact that the who travels to the jun-
movie was ever made. Or should gles of South America
to seek out the wife (Jo-
I say re-made?
Last year, around this time, I Beth Williams) who left
had the misfortune of reviewing him 12 years ago.
On the verge of a sec-
a French film called Little Indi-
ond
marriage, he needs
an, Big City. Don't fret if you've
never heard of it. Fittingly, the his estranged wife's sig-
picture died a swift and anony- nature on the divorce
mous death in the United papers and, for reason's
States. I was quite surprised, unexplained, it can't be
done by mail.
then, when I read that
Upon arrival,
Tim Allen was instru-
MOVIES
Allen is sur-
mental in remaking the
prised to find Tim Allen plays father to Sam Huntington in Disney's Jungle 2 Jungle.
film with Disney.
I was hoping the "Home Im- his wife living in primi-
Through a contrived turn of skewer pigeons, scare cats, scale
provement" comedian would be tive conditions with the
able to provide a little charm natives and shocked to learn that events, the boy accompanies his the Statue of Liberty and rescue
that the tedious French original he has a 12-year-old son named father back to the big city, where his father and a bungling asso-
he utilizes his jungle skills to ciate (Martin Short) from some
sorely lacked. Unfortunately, Mimi-Siku, meaning "cat pee."

I

PHOTO BY DAM TODD

'Jungle 2 Jungle'

angry Russians. While all this
is going on, father and son come
to realize how much they need
each other.
In theory, there is a nice mes-
sage here about family and pri-
orities, but it is all but lost under
a barrage of slapstick gags that
are as broad as the Amazon Riv-
er basin: tarantulas crawling up
trousers, kicks in the groin.
Almost to a scene, Jungle 2
Jungle duplicates Little Indian,
Big City. The dialogue is the
same, the sight gags are identi-
cal, every mistake the original
film made was repeated in this
remake. Certainly this is a fam-
ily film, but anyone with a mind-
set above 10 years of age will
grow weary of this movie in a
New York minute.

— Richard Halprin

Waiting For Guffman'

MOW

is an attorney
with a love for the movies.

on the .
gtst ad of the
rBl n . twill be suf-
ficietiffor his converts ‘
and for the curious. Be-
ware to anyone else.

— Richard Ilalprin

Alison (Mary McCormack) and Howard Stem enjoy his New York success.

Editor's note: Read
about Staff Writer
Jill Sklar's experietz
with Howard Stern
on Page 88. By the
way, she "loved
Private Parts and
gives it three bagels.

the camera crew never asks any
Rated R
small Missouri town's ses- questions.
The film does make good use of
quicentennial commemora-
tion attracts the attention of improvised performances, espe-
a Broadway producer in the cially during the auditions. Fred
mildly amusing "mockumentary" Willard ("Fernwood Tonight"),
Catherine O'Hara and Eugene
Waiting- for Guffman.
Christopher Guest (This Is Levy (both of "SCTV") and Park-
er Posey (Party Girl) are
Spinal Tap) directs and
hilarious as they sing de-
stars as Corky St. Clair, an
MOVIES
lightfully off-kilter ver-
effeminate ex-New York
sions of songs, ranging
actor living in Blaine, Mo.,
where he occasionally directs com- from "Midnight at the Oasis" to
munity theater — from the Neil "Teacher's Pet."
All the actors are good, but the
Simon perennial Barefoot in the
Park to a stage version of Back- standout performance belongs to
Eugene Levy as dentist Allan
draft.
When he gets the assignment Pearl, who's suddenly bit by the
to put on the town's 150th an- show biz bug. In one interview
niversary pageant, "Red, White segment, he recalls his father's
and Blaine," Corky invites some career in Yiddish theater (a per-
theater big shots to see it, and one formance in Dybbuk, Shmybbuk,
actually accepts: Mort Guffman. I Said More Ham) and wonders if
Soon Corky and his troupe are he's wasted his life in dentistry.
When we get to the actual
convinced that their little show
highlighting Blaine history, in- show, the songs, by Guest and fel-
cluding its reputation as "the stool low Spinal Tap alumni Harry
capital of the world" and the site Shearer and Michael McKean,
of the first UFO landing, might are authentically hokey, and the
sets are cheap but not terrible.
actually move to Broadway.
But, although the film purports Guffman is too kind and gentle
to be a "documentary" of the show a movie to be mean, and that's a
and its preparations, little effort shame. Kind satire is an oxy-
is made to convince the viewer of moron.
The film does have several fun-
this. For example, there are some
talk-to-the-camera interviews, but ny moments, but it's less than the
sum of its parts.
Stephen Bitsoli is the former
entertainment editor for Detroit
Monthly magazine.
— Stephen Bitsoli