Directed by Luke Greenfield
Once again, given the cheap price of a PV disk (previously viewed), The Animal is pretty good. Also, again, it’s pretty much what you would expect. It doesn’t attempt much. It simply wants to be funny.
It succeeds in doing this but in a white bread kind of way. While it has the odd “gross” joke, it’s never excessive as it tries not to be offensive, attempting to appeal to as large a group as possible.
This, of course, irks some people. The movie is kind of like the guy in the shallow end of the pool who’s to afraid to try the deep end.
For me, though, I don’t mind. It had enough funny scenes, generally well-executed, to keep me happy. I’m not a big fan of the fart joke style of movie (like American Pie or Animal House).
Rob Schneider makes a pretty good loser. (Yes, it’s that story again – loser who gets the girl in the end.) And the woman from Survivor, Colleen Haskell, is pretty good too though the role doesn’t really call on her to do much except look cute.
So … this movie is, like America’s Sweethearts, exactly what you would expect. Personally, I was very pleased since I expected so little of it. It’s definitely worth seeing if you simply want to turn off your brain for a bit and have a laugh or two.
© 2002 Piddleville Inc.
