Kangaroo Jack

Two Brooklyn friends (Jerry O'Connell and Anthony Anderson) are commissioned by a mob boss (Christopher Walken) to deliver $50,000 to a shady character in the Outback. The operation goes awry when a kangaroo inadvertently runs off with one of the guys' jacket... and the money. Michael Shannon is on hand as a mob heavy.

"Kangaroo Jack" (2003) is a likable family-friendly adventure/comedy with the typical eye-rolling kid humor (e.g. Fart jokes). It's fun, harmless hokum highlighted by spectacular Australian cinematography and the beautiful Estella Warren as an Outback preservationist. The humorous camaraderie of the protagonists is another highpoint. But the story isn't as compelling as I hoped it would be and the camera never really captures Estella's beauty beyond her lovely face and bosom.

It runs 1 hour, 29 minutes and was shot in Australia and Brooklyn with reshoots done in Los Angeles.

GRADE: C+

Two childhood friends, a New York hairstylist and a would-be musician, get caught up with the mob and are forced to deliver $50,000 to Australia, but things go haywire when the money is lost to a wild kangaroo.

This film is notorious for its deceptive advertising. Everyone thought it would be about a talking kangaroo. And, after all, the film is called "Kangaroo jack", so it makes sense you would expect the lead character to be the kangaroo. But, in fact, the kangaroo does not talk, and has a relatively small part to play in the movie (even if he is the key figure to the whole plot).

If you keep your expectations low, this is actually a fun film. Very predictable, sort of stupid, but watch it with some friends and you might just have a fun time. And it is pretty wholesome for the most part. Some mild violence, a bit of forced romance, but nothing too adult and hardly any curse words. That seems to be more and more rare these days (2015).

As a special treat, one of the supporting cast members is Michael Shannon (and Christopher Walken has a small part). This is before Shannon really got noticed or came to be respected as a critical success. Watch him in this role, though. Despite it being a pretty awful film, Shannon shines. He gives it 100% even when Jerry O'Connell is happy just to get a paycheck.

Get stoned and watch this movie. You'll laugh a lot for sure! But nevertheless, it does not deserve this much hate? Of course plot holes, corny parts, but damn Anthony Anderson is hilarious, Michael Shannon is always awesome... COME ON!

I was fooled by the packaging. I expected the movie to be about a kangaroo. It was - but just barely. I even thought it would be about a talking kangaroo. It was - but only for a moment. It was advertised as fodder for kids. Well, it tends to remain in the general audience vein with brief strays into light-hearted sexual innuendo. No, here the kangaroo is simply incidental to the actual story which isn't that compelling to start with. It is mostly a CGI kangaroo and not always a very good one. When the animal is actually on the screen it tends to almost be annoying because it tends to come across as a commercial. Sort of like .... meanwhile, here is what the kangaroo is doing. It breaks up the storyline with somewhat lame attempts at the kangaroo trying to be funny. Completely unnecessary. As for the story - it could have actually been a good Mafia-lite film in a way. The resulting revelation about the purpose of the kangaroo hijacked envelope of money was the most interesting part of the film. There are some amusing sequences but nearly none have anything to do with the kangaroo. Why was the kangaroo billed as the star? I don't know. Even as the film ends the kangaroo soliloquies that he is the star and finally gets to performing in the way I originally thought the film was going to convey. By the end of the film I felt somewhat betrayed. I was waiting for a kangaroo that never really happened.

Someone actually wrote down a script for this movie.. they wrote it down and then re-read it trying to improve it. they showed it to other people, they showed it to a film studio and it was actually made into a movie.

Let me re-phrase this so that it impacts you the way that it was supposed to.. some human being made this movie. they came up with the idea of it and put it on paper and actually said to themselves (without laughing) "HEY!!!! THIS IS PRETTY DARN GOOD!!" and other people agreed with him.

im very ashamed of my fellow man.