AGW Entertainment reporter Lynn B. saw a new action comedy film. Here are her thoughts on....

KANGAROO JACK

Warner Brothers Pictures

Jerry O'Connell, Estella Warren and Anthony Anderson got all chummy shooting down in the Australian outback for their family caper/comedy film Kangaroo Jack. Estella and Jerry were rumored to be together off set but hey, what else do you do in 130 degree weather far from the nearest club or theater or mall?

Mob-raised Charlie Carbone (Jerry O'Connell) and best pal Louis Fucci (Anthony Anderson) can't beat their loser reputations and the situation worsens when Louis talks Charlie into a get-rich quick scheme that leads the cops straight to Charlie's intimidating mobster step-dad Sal Maggio (Christopher Walken). The boys are given one chance not to sleep with the fishes. They are to deliver 50 thousand cash to one of Sal's associates in the Australian Outback.

The fish-out-of-water city boys complicate their lives when their jeep hits a kangaroo and Louis insists on taking a few joke pics with the "dead" animal dressed in his jacket. The roo comes to and hops off with the packet of money which Louis had left in the jacket pocket. The boys team up with wildlife conservationist Jessie (Estella Warren) on a trek to get back the dough before Sal's thugs make them all extinct.

This is a wacky comedy with the standard cliché mobsters, goofy guys and a beautiful girl but it's done with flair and great humor by director David McNally (Coyote Ugly) and hot producer Jerry Bruckheimer who gave us Armageddon and the t.v. show "C.S.I.". The kangaroo steals the show and, no it's not a film about a talking kangaroo. That's just part of Jerry's character's heat exhaustion fantasy. Jerry and Barbershop's Anthony Anderson are a winning comedy team and Estella holds her own as a no-nonsense, Lara Croft-style action heroine who doesn't take any kangaroo poo from her guy co-stars.

Above all, the film is about lifelong friendship. Despite frustrations, arguments and lifestyle differences, true friends stick together even after debts are paid. Action moves along very quickly in Bruckheimer style and there isn't time to get bored. There are the usual sight gag jokes (stinky camels, kangaroo kicks, etc.. humm maybe that isn't too "usual") and outback "Aussies drunk at the only bar for miles" jokes but there is enough charm in the film to get you past all this.

Take your little bro or sis…hey take the whole family. There is hot Estella for the guys and hilarious duo Jerry and Anthony for everybody. For its category, "Kangaroo" is hoppin' good fun.

Rated: PG-13

Official website