#23: Osmosis Jones

Back in the 90s, there was a trend. Yes, this came out in 2001, but you don't think it takes 7 months to animate a movie, right?

It involved 'urbanizing' cartoons with slang, but more often music.

Some movies did this better than others. "Osmosis Jones" is not one of those movies.

The songs involved use some slight sampling of more popular songs they clearly couldn't get the rights to, because the artists and producers had a shred of dignity.

The art style is simple and somewhat effective, though there are moments where Jones (Chris Rock) will try and pull off some expression that really elevates how odd it looks with the art style. It's almost uncanny valley.

Both a blessing and a flaw with the animation is the CGI inclusion of Drix, the pill. There are moments you know David Hyde Pierce is acting his heart out (Or, I know, mainly because I watched a ton of "Frasier" as a child and know he's no stranger to physical displays of emotional reaction. Watch my favorite episode, "Dial M For Martin" for a great example), but the limited facial expressions (of a pill) just make him look wholly disinterested.




Of course, both of these characters dislike each other before joining forces, a whopping 35 minutes into the film. Not even a third-act revelation, but at the end of act 1.

Speaking of pills, the live action stuff is not only unimpressive, it's downright unpleasant. Bill Murray's character is a slovenly asshole who treats his daughter Shane like Cinderella. You almost want Lawrence Fishburne germ to kill him, but knowing this movie's rather unfunny and crass sense of humor, Shane would end up with a terribly disordered mentality toward health after watching both her parents die from bad eating habits.

The final standoff is confusing and nonsensical. The sole (animated) female character of any importance is a trope. Then again, everyone is a trope here.

The first flash of credits - "Directed by Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly" - which I thought sounded very familiar.

The latter Farrelly is the dude who brought us the racial shit-stack that is Best Picture winner "Green Book". Actually, quite a lot of his directorial films are pretty damn terrible, "Osmosis" included. No wonder the 'blackness' felt contrived, try-hard, and almost tasteless.