Welcome to the Jungle

Saw this movie last night World Premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival. First, let me tell you this festival is great, awesome films and fun fun destination.

The movie chronicles the life of a under-spoken, nerdy kid who strives to be that which is the opposite - assertive, top of the pack leader. At work, he is constantly undermined by a college who takes credit for his work and is the all around a-hole that people love to hate.

On a team building trip, lead by the non other than Jean-Claude Van Damme (hilariously mocking himself and many other things) as the wilderness leader on this isolated island.

Adam Brody does a great job with the funny, quick hitting humor, playing off the over-the-top always funny nemesis played by Rob Huebel.

The thing is, going into this movie and letting yourself be entertained, its a huge success with funny side characters, plays on other movies and books that make you say aha yeah! It does not get to that stupidity point where you might think such a comedy could fall into, and it keeps things clever, while still entertaining greatly in a plot which has all the common points and you can predict where its going to go. Although you may see the underlying basics, you are nevertheless entertained and laughing in your seat. Well done, hope this movie has lots of success.

Moral of the story: don't go on team building exercises with crazy people from work on a deserted island.

This movie is strictly for people who enjoyed Office Space, Dumb & Dumber, Dodgeball, Ace Ventura, etc. and have the capacity to get over themselves. It's absolutely ridiculous, immature, and goofy like all of those other low brow comedies but with a way smaller budget and considerably less starpower. It's not a thinking mans movie and will never considered for an Oscar but I think anybody with common sense realizes that 5 minutes in. It's definitely not an instant classic either but people on this site are being way to hard considering what this is. All the acting is more than adequate for a screwball comedy and it has it's share of laughs and silliness. I'd recommend it for the people who just want be amused and entertained for a few hours by a little of absurdity.

Welcome to the Jungle is a story that tries to entertain the viewer with some hilarious comedy scenes; especially involving Jean-Claude Van Damme. The interpersonal relationship between the various actors was not interesting, and the simplicity of the shift from rational to "primitive" was hardly aptly presented or explained. Overall the acting was below par, without any attempt at building a serious character (again with JCVD being the exception).

The plot is a group are sent on a retreat to learn team skills. After a few incidents, they are trapped on the island. The island splits into two factions and the main character learns how to stand up for himself.

The movie plays into typical alpha-male scenarios with little to nothing to offer, and the consistent rape jokes are tasteless, while providing little except to re-enforce the alpha-male stereotype with the subversive male having to defeat him in order to get his "prize".

The music and imagery in the movie are well done, and do set the mood for the various scenes, regardless of how the acting was.The simplicity of the plot wouldn't have garnered a watch in most cases, but there are a few scenes with JCVD that are hilarious. If you can watch them separately, skip this movie. Due to the few entertaining scenes and well produced audio/video, I would rate this a 4; otherwise I wouldn't bother even raising it over a 2.

There might be some people who like it, but it was not appealing to me.

I'm not going to get into any plot or detailed film descriptions in this review (if you can call it that). All I'm am going to write is what I did and did not enjoy about this film.

Firstly, the bad parts - the thing that really let's the film down is the writing - basically the majority of the actors just aren't given enough to play with. They all try really hard to get laughs, whether it be by forcing out swear words or resorting to penis and boob jokes that come across more than a little forced. The characters for the most part are likable enough but the comedic actors/actresses like Kristen Schaal are not used to their full comedic potential and it is disappointing to say the least.

TV actors Adam Brody and Megan boon are good on their roles and do their best at trying to keep the viewer from nodding off into a dull boredom coma.

So why give what really is just another average comedy film that would otherwise deserve only a 5 out of ten, a 7?

Well, the answer is obvious - Jean-Claude Van Damme! Not only does he save this film from being shelved completely - he manages to make it really enjoyable and worth watching and he really is hilarious!

I have always been a massive Van Damme fan ( or "Fan a Damme" as I like to put it) but that being said, I think comedy is really a route he should explore on a more regular basis. Every scene Van Damme appears in - he steals completely and the only laugh-out-loud scenes in the film are they ones with him in them! Clearly he is enjoying himself and it really shows on screen. Whether he is stealing the other actors lines or just making fun of himself - JCVD is the one and only reason you should watch this film and I give the extra 2 stars to this films rating due to his brilliant, comedic performance.

Hopefully this film is the comedic stepping-stone Van Damme uses to land a comedy role in a big-budget comedy film and to give him the big mainstream hit he really deserves :)

You are and always will be the man, Van Damme!!!