The selling pont of "Osmosis Jones" is the quirky plays on bodily functions, which it brilliantly transforms into cop-buddy movie cliches-sweat glands are Mob steamrooms, vaccines are informers, the lymph nodes are police precints, the bladder is the Last Bus Out Of Town. When Oz sees a villainous germ in the stomach, he immediately hits the "PUKE" button- creating the ultimate "panic button" scene. Chris Rock, who made his career playing comic cops, here gets the ultimate straight man in David Hyde Pierce (Frasier's Niles) who somewhow manages to play a superhero cold pill convincingly. The two work well together; I'd like to see them both on "Frasier" sometime. But the best thing about this film is Fishburne, whose brilliantly designed Thrax (Looking like a cross between Ice-T and the Red Skull from Fantastic Four) is complimented by his unusually campy performance. In one of the film's wittier allusions, Thrax causes damage with a literal "fever spike," an extended, sharpened digit that heats up whatever he touches.
The problem with this film is the live action sequences, which are dull and uninvolving. Bill Murray, one of the world's greatest physical comedians, is forced to spend much of the film moaning on his back, so one would expect him to rely on his snarky sarcasm for laughs. Unfortunately he isn't allowed to. Instead the "humour" is derived from grossing the audience out as much as possible, which worked in the Farrelley Brothers' previous films as long as the actors were allowed to play along, but here they all wear serious faces.
I think this film would have done better as a fully animated film, perhaps even as a weekly show. Instead it is merely average, which is a shame.
The problem with this film is the live action sequences, which are dull and uninvolving. Bill Murray, one of the world's greatest physical comedians, is forced to spend much of the film moaning on his back, so one would expect him to rely on his snarky sarcasm for laughs. Unfortunately he isn't allowed to. Instead the "humour" is derived from grossing the audience out as much as possible, which worked in the Farrelley Brothers' previous films as long as the actors were allowed to play along, but here they all wear serious faces.
I think this film would have done better as a fully animated film, perhaps even as a weekly show. Instead it is merely average, which is a shame.