Kangaroo Jack

With an early, inappropriately crude and extremely long-running joke about infected genitals, this Down Under comedy blows its chance for a shoulder-shrugging, it's-good-enough-for-kids recommendation. But since the rest of the movie is too flimsy for adults to enjoy on their own, there doesn't seem much point in explaining that it does have its moments. The plot finds a Brooklyn mobster's stepson (Jerry O'Connell) and his bad-luck buddy (Anthony Anderson) flying to Australia to make a $50,000 delivery in a "mission of absolution" after accidentally blowing the cover on a big Mafia operation. While traveling through the Outback, they dress up a road-kill kangaroo in sunglasses and Anderson's "lucky jacket" to take a few silly snapshots. But the not-really-dead 'roo springs to life, hopping off into the wilderness, still wearing the jacket--which holds the 50 large in its pockets. Their misadventures in getting the money back comprise the rest of the movie, and the results are hit and miss, as scenes of surprisingly creative comedy crop up from time to time. But this was clearly a minimal-effort flick from the very beginning. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: Available in widescreen or full screen versions, DVD extras include audio commentary by director David McNally, visual effects supervisor Hoyt Yeatman, and costars Estella Warren, Anthony Anderson, and Jerry O'Connell; scene-specific spoof “Kangaroo Commentary” with the titular Kangaroo Jack character; a two-minute segment of facetious animal “casting sessions”; a three-minute “Behind the Gas” featurette on sound effects; a five-minute “Jackie Legs' Dance Grooves” dance instruction segment; the four-minute special effects featurette “Marsupial Magic: The Making of a Hollywood Legend”; three-minutes of gags and outtakes; cast/crew filmographies; DVD-ROM features; and a trailer. Bottom line: a bouncin' extras package for a rather flat comedy.] (R. Blackwelder)