{"id":2210246,"date":"2025-12-23T20:16:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T20:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2210246"},"modified":"2025-12-23T20:16:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T20:16:22","slug":"anaconda-review-jack-black-and-paul-rudd-remake-j-los-snake-movie-in-funny-average-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/anaconda-review-jack-black-and-paul-rudd-remake-j-los-snake-movie-in-funny-average-comedy\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Anaconda&#8217; review: Jack Black and Paul Rudd remake J.Lo&#8217;s snake movie in funny, average comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2025%2F12%2Fnewspress-collage-c2jb9e1bp-1766519971989.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261766502022\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--review alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n\t\t<span class=\"inline-module--review__eyebrow subsection-heading-semi__label\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tmovie review\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"inline-module--review__title subsection-heading-semi\">\n\t\t\tANACONDA\t\t<\/h2>\n<div class=\"rating\">\n<div class=\"rating__stars\">\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--filled\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--filled\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--filled\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--empty\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Running time: 100 minutes. Rated PG-13 (violence\/action, strong language, some drug use and suggestive references). In theaters Dec. 25.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Who would have thought that 1997\u2019s \u201cAnaconda,\u201d in which Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube and Jon Voight run from a giant snake in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, would leave a significant enough cultural mark that 28 years later a movie would be made about\u2026 \u201cAnaconda\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Not me!<\/p>\n<p>Its animatronic main character was nominated for Worst New Star at the Razzie Awards, for God\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n<p>Well, that is the whole shtick of Jack Black and Paul Rudd\u2019s lighter-than-air comedy called, um, \u201cAnaconda.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Four childhood friends whose adulthoods haven\u2019t gone at all according to plan decide to grab hold of their lives by remaking their favorite Eric Stoltz non-classic.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--more inline-module--columnist inline-module--more--thirds\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n<h2 class=\"inline-module__heading subsection-heading subsection-heading--single-line \">\n\t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"subsection-heading__sub\">Johnny Oleksinski<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>How does such a preposterous idea come about?<\/p>\n<p>One of the easy-viewing flick\u2019s biggest belly laughs arrives when Rudd\u2019s Griff, a lowly background actor, abruptly announces to his pals at a diner, \u201cI own the rights to \u2018Anaconda\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bombshell is spoken in the same tone as Richard Attenborough saying, \u201cI own an island off the coast of Costa Rica,\u201d in \u201cJurassic Park,\u201d only so much dumber.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Jack Black and Paul Rudd go on an Amazonian adventure in \u201cAnaconda.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In less than a minute, Kenny (Steve Zahn), Doug (Black) and Claire (Thandiwe Newton) are all onboard. Why not? They scrape up $10,000 for their insane indie.<\/p>\n<p>Doug, Black doing Black, who has been unfulfilled working as a wedding videographer, quickly pens a screenplay. \u201cA spiritual sequel,\u201d he says. What the writer-director titles it will tickle any movie fan who follows Hollywood\u2019s incessant habit of remakes and reboots: \u201cThe Anaconda.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>You know, like \u201cThe Batman\u201d and \u201cThe Suicide Squad.\u201d Just tack on a \u201cThe\u201d and you\u2019re golden.<\/p>\n<p>The script ready, the nerdy quartet jets off to Brazil with a camera and a dream.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond that core scenario and a couple in-jokes, director and co-writer Tom Gormican\u2019s movie does not send up or satirize showbiz whatsoever. A Christopher Guest film, this is not. I didn\u2019t even sense a palpable connection to the original. They clearly went to great lengths not to alienate anybody who has somehow managed to avoid seeing \u201cAnaconda.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>A quartet of childhood friends risk everything to reboot their favorite giant-snake film. <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Once in South America, the reboot becomes a pretty common jungle adventure hoisted up by the charms of Rudd and Black and a consistent supply of chuckles. Given the sorry state of studio comedies this year, things could\u2019ve gone a lot worse. <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/02\/06\/entertainment\/love-hurts-review-ke-huy-quan-ariana-deboses-heinous-action-comedy-is-perfect-for-a-couple-looking-to-break-up\/\">See: \u201cLove Hurts.\u201d \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Where Gormican\u2019s movie veers off the path of hilarity and into subpar action is when the group is put in real peril by a pack of local criminals that\u2019s trailing their boat.<\/p>\n<p>Couldn\u2019t have cared less about them, including Daniela Melchior\u2019s femme fatale Ana.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the same old \u201cRomancing the Stone\u201d model.<\/p>\n<p>The baddies amp up the stakes, I suppose, but who needs \u2019em when you\u2019ve got a forest full of giant fanged reptiles? The visiting friends aren\u2019t portrayed realistically and neither are the thugs. Everybody here is heightened. So there is no humor mined from the contrast. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What did a far better job with frivolous actors encountering legit danger in nature was \u201cTropic Thunder,\u201d the Hollywood comedy Black also appeared in back in 2008. \u201cAnaconda\u201d falls well short of that.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Jack Black is hilarious in a wild sequence with a pig carcass. <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That said, whenever there\u2019s a lull here, a big laugh soon comes along with the force of a boa constrictor that conceals the flaws. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>An extended sequence featuring Black and a pig carcass is the sort of riot only he can pull off.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of the other extreme sight gags \u2014 especially the movie\u2019s most jaw-dropping one \u2014 result from the real serpent the filmmakers are forced to rent on the cheap.<\/p>\n<p>A snake handler named Santiago (Selton Mello, who\u2019s odd but not hilarious), lends them the genuine article and they act beside the frightening animal with pretty much no safety precautions. What you assume will happen does not.<\/p>\n<p>Though, needless to say, at various points a boa definitely noshes on some delicious humans.<\/p>\n<p>Really, though, just remember what you\u2019re at: A meta-comedy sequel to a movie in which the most famous line is, \u201cWhen you can\u2019t breathe, you can\u2019t scream.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>movie review ANACONDA Running time: 100 minutes. Rated PG-13 (violence\/action, strong language, some drug use and suggestive references). In theaters Dec. 25. Who would have thought that 1997\u2019s \u201cAnaconda,\u201d in which Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube and Jon Voight run from a giant snake in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, would leave a significant enough [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2210247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[21741,319646,304995,21912,309082,411709],"class_list":["post-2210246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-entertainment","tag-jack-black","tag-movie-reviews","tag-movies","tag-paul-rudd","tag-thandiwe-newton"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Anaconda-review-Jack-Black-and-Paul-Rudd-remake-JLos-snake.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2210246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2210248,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210246\/revisions\/2210248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2210247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2210246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2210246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2210246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}