The Nut Job

The Nut Job - Dir. Peter Lepeniotis (2014)

The first few months of the year are considered a dumping ground for studios who generally release subpar titles with very little fanfare. The winter can also be slim pickings when it comes to family friendly entertainment. In 2013, Dreamworks capitalized on the slow market with The Croods, a gorgeously animated picture that went on to do over $587 million at the box office. There's no such luck this year as parents would have to settle for taking their kids to see The Nut Job.

Set during the 1950's, The Nut Job follows one Surly (Will Arnett), a misanthropic squirrel who only looks out for himself. Surly's only friend is Buddy (Robert Tinkler), a rat who looks like a grungy and emaciated version of Remy from Ratatouille. None of the other animals in picturesque Liberty Park like him though Andie (Katherine Heigl) seems to be slightly sympathetic. Autumn is nearly over, but the food supply is short for the coming winter. Andie and the exceedingly heroic Grayson (Brendan Fraser) clash with Surly over the nuts from a vendor cart. Their argument accidentally ignites the propane tank and burns down the tree that everyone calls home. Under the stern leadership of Raccoon (Liam Neeson), the animals vote to banish Surly from the park.

Surly and Buddy are left to fend for themselves in the big city against pigeons and sewer rats. As luck would have it, they stumble upon a nut store with a bountiful supply to feed them for ages to come. The store happens to be the staging ground for a quartet of gangsters led by King (Stephen Lang). Their plan is to tunnel into the nearby bank and replace all the bags of money with sacks full of nuts so no one will notice the cash is missing. Surly and the other park animals forge an uneasy alliance to gather the nuts and avoid detection by the humans.

The Nut Job has a clever premise with a bank heist concurrent to the cute critters pulling off one of their own in the background. The filmmakers certainly aimed high by attempting to imbue the manic energy of the classic Looney Tunes shorts with an allegory straight out of Animal Farm. However, the movie never lives up to those lofty goals. The script suffers from the same lazy pitfalls of other second-rate animated flicks, riddled with fart jokes and contrived pop culture references. Angry Birds? Seriously? Despite being a period piece, The Nut Job prominently features the novelty hit "Gangnam Style." Its familiar techno beats play over a celebratory sequence during the film and an animated version of PSY pops up during the end credits for the requisite dance party. Perhaps, it was included because Nut Job was co-produced by a South Korean studio. In any event, the song's popularity died out long before "Nut Job" saw the light of day and was buried alongside other one-hit wonders like the Macarena and "Whoomp! (There It Is)."

It also seems like the writers couldn't be bothered with creating names for every character. Well, this squirrel is surly, so let's call him Surly. What about his buddy? Buddy. And the raccoon and mole? Raccoon and Mole. Job well done.

The Nut Job was budgeted at $42.8 million, which is a fraction of what Pixar works with, but other studios have done much better animation with not much more. Disney's knockoff Planes looks worlds better than Nut Job on a budget of $50, despite a screenplay that was just as uninspired. The movie is certainly colorful, but the designs and the movements appear to have been animated a decade ago.

If anyone was expecting the celebrity cast to bring some sparkle to the proceedings, you will be disappointed. Aside from the baritone voices of Will Arnett and Liam Neeson, none of them are recognizable and only Maya Rudolph as an affectionate pug has any charm.

The concept of The Nut Job is a bit similar to 2006's Over the Hedge, which shared a co-writer in Lorne Cameron. None of the furry fauna in either movie were all that memorable. Even the zany interludes of Scrat from the Ice Age series were more fun. As Pixar has done again and again, you can create an animated film with enough intelligence and heart to appeal to adults and children alike. The Nut Job might win over the youngest of age, but it will make others fall into an early hibernation.

Rating: * (*****)

Life as We Know It

Life as We Know It - Dir. Greg Berlanti (2010)

Katherine Heigl doesn't seem to have a problem biting the hand that feeds her. She made digs at the writing staff of Grey's Anatomy and lambasted Knocked Up for its sexist themes, despite the fact that the film made her a movie star. Ironically, Heigl would participate in features that were far more misogynistic and insipid. She's frequently cast as the shrill and vapid control freak in a continuing stream of empty-headed romantic comedies. Life as We Know It isn't any different as Heigl once again plays an uptight professional woman who is thrust into motherhood with an emotionally immature man-child.

Heigl is Holly Berenson, the owner of a bakery and catering service, who is best friends with Alison Novak (Christina Hendricks). Josh Duhamel is the subtly named Eric Messer, a technical director for the Atlanta Hawks, who is best friends with Alison's husband, Peter (Hayes MacArthur). The Novaks figure their long-time buddies would make the perfect couple and set them up on what turns out to be a disastrous blind date. Holly wears a slinky cocktail dress. Messer is dressed in a leather jacket and tattered baseball cap. She drives a Smart Car. He rides a motorcycle. Oh, how will it ever work out? Well, it doesn't at first.

Two years later, Peter and Alison are killed in a car accident. They leave custody of their 1-year old daughter, Sophia, to the bewildered Holly and Messer. The newfound parents have a difficult time balancing their work and social lives with raising a baby. Holly and Messer may smart and successful people, but one dirty diaper later, they're suddenly bumbling idiots. One montage later though and suddenly they've turned things around and slowly realize just how much they match up as a family.

Life as We Know It is on the level of a bad sitcom. It's like a pilot for a throwback to the TGIF line-up. The film is full of stock characters that get into stock situations that are easily solved as sappy music plays in the background. Life is stepped in rom-com clichés with Holly romancing a good-looking pediatrician (Josh Lucas) who acts as the third wheel in the relationship. He's the nice, bland guy who gets dumped for the leading man. There's an extremely forced, second act complication that breaks the couple apart just so they can have another idiotic scene where one character rushes to the airport to catch the other before it's too late. The humor is equally inane with scenes of Heigl getting poop on her face and watching The Wiggles while stoned.

Life as We Know It is overly sentimental drivel, but it's harmless, sentimental drivel and that's the nicest, backhanded compliment I can pay it.

Rating: * (*****)