Delayed Reaction: George of the Jungle

The Pitch: "You know what song got stuck in my head today?" "No, what?" "The George of the Jungle song." "Don't we own the properties to that?" "Yeah, I think so. Why?" "I'm about to go to a pitch meeting and I got too messed up on Quaaludes last night to come up with anything good." ...and so on and so forth.

What Took Me So Long: Simply put, I saw Disney's take on Tarzan so I didn't see a need to see their George of the Jungle too.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) Brenden Fraser has a great face for doing silly things. While I've liked him in some of his more nuanced roles, I think he is built for something big like George of the Jungle or Blast from the Past. He is so earnest that it makes a character like George work better than it should. At first, I was annoyed by the narration of the movie. The longer it went on and the more meta the humor derived from it was the more I appreciated it. Also, let us not forget that Leslie Mann is a gem no matter how she is used. For as consistently as she has worked, it's a shame that she never hit a little bigger.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: This is clearly in the category of "kids movie that puts in exactly enough to be tolerable for adults". So, the plot's pretty simple. The jokes are mostly direct. I could only see myself watching it again if I had kids (in which case I'd be petitioning for a long list of other films) or along to a drinking game (again, in which case, I'd have to think there's many more available alternatives).

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend