SIN Entertainment

George Of The Jungle'

'Nothing To Lose'

Rated PG

ing To Lose, but with its unfin-
ished-feeling story, most of the
jokes and physical humor seem
ritten and directed by like punchlines with no buildup.
Steve Oedekerk (The The same goes for Lawrence;
Nutty Professor, Ace Ven- there are hints of talent, but
tura: When Nature very little comes of it.
Calls), Nothing To Lose is the
Nothing To Lose works well
story of Nick Beam's bad day.
here and there, with moments
His life falling to pieces of good laughs and some good
around him, and in no mood to character development, but in
put up with anything or anyone,
the end there's no believable
Nick (Tim Robbins)
base to the protagonists'
turns the tables on gun-
relationship: The pair's
MOVIES
wielding car jacker Ter-
actions don't make sense.
rance "T" Davidson
This is a movie that, with
(Martin Lawrence) and ends up a little more script work, should
taking him on a long, long drive have been much better than it
— from L.A. to Arizona — con- is.
fused and pleading for his life.
This premise, while not new,
O: 1/2
shows promise at its outset, but
the script seems like a second
draft. Why would this advertis-
Jeffrey Hermann
ing executive, even in the worst

W

— Stephen Bitsoli

Brendan Fraser goes
ape in George of the
Jungle.

PHOTO BY MARSHA BLACKBU RN

Stephen Bitsoli is
former
entertainment
editor of Detroit
Monthly.

Rated R

PHOTO BY BOB MARSHAK

Francisco. Ursula's come to winkle and Rocky," George in-
Africa to get away from her fi- habited a fractured universe. Af-
ance, Lyle (Thomas Haden ter he clobbered a lion, he'd look
new Disney film George of Church of "Ned and Stacey" and him in the face and say "Sorry,
the Jungle features a great 'Wings"), who has nevertheless Leon." His main adversaries
performance by one of today's followed her on his own with the were the strangely Caucasian na-
leading actors: Tai.
help of two disreputable guides. tive villagers who spoke then-con-
An Indian elephant, Tai is the
When Ursula gets lost in the temporary American slang, often
star of such recent films as Op- jungle, George rescues her, and with a New York accent — not
eration: Dumbo Drop and Larg- the two are smitten. Soon George exactly P.C.
er Than Life, and shows his range is flying to civilization with Ur-
But the biggest disappoint-
by playing Shep, an African ele- sula, much to the dismay of Ur- ment may be the voice of Ape,
phant; moreover, he's an ele- sula's mother (Holland Taylor of which in the cartoon was a mar-
phant who thinks he's a dog. The "The Naked Truth"). But when velous parody of Ronald Colman
scenes of Tai fetching sticks, he learns Ape has been captured (The Prisoner of Zenda). Cleeie
shaking paws and other canine by poachers who plan to exhibit has a good voice, but it's not as
behavior is amazing. So what if him in Las Vegas, George re-
cultured, not as aristo-
some of it's done with special ef- turns to Africa. Ursula fol-
cratic, and therefore not
fects and computer animation? lows, setting the scene for
as funny.
MOVIES
You think De Niro doesn't wear a final confrontation with
The whole film
makeup?
Lyle and the requisite happy
seems to take itself too se-
Unfortunately, the rest of ending.
riously, despite constant under-
George of the Jungle doesn't do
Unfortunately for longtime cutting by the narrator (who
as good a job of capturing the feel fans, very little of the final two- reassures us that no one dies in
of the 1960s cartoon. It loses thirds have anything to do with the movie — "They just get big
steam about a third of the way what made "George" so much boo-boos"). But there are enough
through and never really recov- fun. Like animation legend Jay sight gags (Shep with a giant
ers. Brendan Fraser (With Hon- Ward's other classic series "Bull- milk bone), physical comedy
ors, Encino Man)
(George leaving im-
stars as the ersatz
pressions in trees
Tarzan, George, who
when he swings into
lives in a treehouse
them) and funny lines
with an ape named
("Which ape do we
Ape (the voice of
want?" 'The one play-
John Cleese). One
ing chess") to amuse.
day George sees his
And Brendan Fraser
first human female,
and Leslie Mann
Ursula (The Cable
make likable leads.
Guy's Leslie Mann),
an heiress from San

Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence team up in Nothing To Lose.

of moods, behave this way with
the man who threatened to kill
him? Why would this desperate,
would-be car jacker put his
guard down?
After some initial antago-
nism, the pair begin to tolerate
each other, and after a couple of
mishaps, realize they now de-
pend on each other. While the
chemistry between the two un-
likely personalities is fair, some-
times even very good, the
situations that ensue seem con-
trived and unimaginative.
Tim Robbins has proven his
ability to play a wide range of
characters. Some of the same
simple-man, deadpan charac-
teristics of his Bull Durham
character are at work in Noth-

Jeffrey Hermann is associate
editor at Visible Ink Press,
publisher of VideoHound's
Golden Movie Retriever.

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