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Although he believed in Roger Kumble's dreadful picture enough to star (for what I hope was an embarrassingly hefty sum) and oversee it from pre to post-production as executive producer, the most revealing shot of Furry Vengeance can be found in the Blu-ray gag reel wherein Brendan Fraser assures us that he has “a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting.”
And despite the fact that critics and fans are perfectly aware of Fraser's mostly untapped talent onstage and via some daring independent film roles, it's an excruciating disappointment to repeatedly witness the affable actor being completely humiliated beyond the realm of a willing Jim Carrey inspired moment throughout this disastrous movie.
One of the worst reviewed films of the year for good reason, Furry Vengeance was only recently dethroned from the lowest aggregate data score by Vampires Suck. Similarly, Furry sucks all of the joy from its admittedly inspired “green” message courtesy of Mr. Woodcock scripters Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert in a movie which centers on fed up woodland that creatures decide to exact revenge on developers who aim to destroy their habitat.
Intriguingly relocating the concept of “when Mother Nature attacks” from the traditional genre homes of horror or disaster movies into that of family comedy, one of the main problems with Furry stems from the fact that after the introductory scene illustrates the main premise of animals fighting back, the screenwriters have no more tricks up their sleeves for us.
Thus, what would've made delightful fodder for a Looney Tunes cartoon or Pixar short quickly overstays its welcome. Relying on pratfalls and gross out gags to sustain our instantly wavering interest, the movie becomes a repetitive slapstick booby trap riddled game of “cat and mouse,” where instead of developing new challenges or subplots, basically we're stuck watching Brendan Fraser get attacked in ways that rival the Home Alone robbers for ninety minutes.
Essentially it's Caddyshack with only the gopher for us to watch. Of course, it's bound to fare better on the small screen when adults aren't forced to pay money for tickets or remain captive in a darkened theatre when they can just pick up this technically solid and environmentally friendly DVD and Blu-ray flipper disc.
Yet while Furry Vengeance tries to fill in the movie's gaping holes with its naturally funny supporting castmates including alumni from The Office, The Daily Show and The Hangover, unfortunately even Ken Jeong, Samantha Bee and Angela Kinsey can't salvage this disastrously unfunny mess.
However, this being said, I'm glad that Fraser has his college degree to fall back on even though he may want to go ahead and leave this film off his Curriculum Vitae.
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FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.