G-Force
0
Posted
July 23, 2009 in
Film
Four sentient guinea pigs (Sam Rockwell, Penelope Cruz, Tracy Morgan and Jon Favreau) and a crafty mole (Nicolas Cage) confront a home electronics behemoth (Bill Nighy) whose espresso machines and microwaves are poised to take over the world—literally. The plot is sprightly, the 3D graphics gorgeous and the fart jokes balanced by running gags like calling squirrels “civilians” and action film nods like “Yippie-ki-yay!” and “Dogs—why’d it have to be dogs?” In short, it’s exactly what you’re expecting: 90 minutes in a multiplex that won’t kill you or make you stronger.
But someone in this Jerry Bruckheimer-produced kiddie flick has a sense of humor pointier than a rat’s tail because before The Hangover put him on the radar, they cast unnerving comedian Zach Galifianakis as the squad’s trainer. Galifianakis’s comedy thrives on risk. In G-Force, he does the most subversive thing possible in a big budget PG picture: he plays it straight. His nerdy scientist is exactly that—no overly geeky glasses, no wild hair. Just a shy man in a beard deeply, quietly concerned that his smart pets stay safe. In the same role, Jack Black would go gonzo, making sure that we didn’t think he was taking his paycheck seriously. But Galifianakis could transfer his performance over to Old Yeller. What is he doing in this film? It’s a dangerous career fluke that two months after his breakout role as a disturbed, lonely probable sex offender, his next role is what the snide and those newly-hip to his anti-charms would call a sell-out. And yet, for Galifianakis fans—myself included—that danger fits his mold. It’s so wrong, it’s right. And he approaches it the same way he does the peril intrinsic in his stand up: He embraces the threat, sinks into it so deeply he can’t joke it off and looks back at us placidly, daring us to admit that we’re the ones with the problem.
But someone in this Jerry Bruckheimer-produced kiddie flick has a sense of humor pointier than a rat’s tail because before The Hangover put him on the radar, they cast unnerving comedian Zach Galifianakis as the squad’s trainer. Galifianakis’s comedy thrives on risk. In G-Force, he does the most subversive thing possible in a big budget PG picture: he plays it straight. His nerdy scientist is exactly that—no overly geeky glasses, no wild hair. Just a shy man in a beard deeply, quietly concerned that his smart pets stay safe. In the same role, Jack Black would go gonzo, making sure that we didn’t think he was taking his paycheck seriously. But Galifianakis could transfer his performance over to Old Yeller. What is he doing in this film? It’s a dangerous career fluke that two months after his breakout role as a disturbed, lonely probable sex offender, his next role is what the snide and those newly-hip to his anti-charms would call a sell-out. And yet, for Galifianakis fans—myself included—that danger fits his mold. It’s so wrong, it’s right. And he approaches it the same way he does the peril intrinsic in his stand up: He embraces the threat, sinks into it so deeply he can’t joke it off and looks back at us placidly, daring us to admit that we’re the ones with the problem.
