Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
8/3/11
Adam
Sandler’s got a nice little empire set up with his Happy Madison Productions,
for which he produces all his starring vehicles, but also several other
movie and TV titles a year for a posse of friends that includes Rob Schneider,
David Spade and Nick Swardson. The problem with this formula is that
while those guys have varying degrees of usefulness as supporting players,
none is a real Movie Star. But the same can’t be said of the latest
addition to the Happy Madison family, former TV comedian Kevin James, who
co-starred with Sandler in I
Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and then graduated to starring roles
in the surprise hit Paul Blart Mall Cop.
What makes James unique in the Sandler crew is that, within the confines
of a reliable formula, he’s genuinely charismatic and relatable.
And it doesn’t hurt that the Kevin James Formula is more built on lucid
storytelling and less as a wall at which to throw everything the filmmakers
can think of and see what sticks. Zookeeper, his second go-round
as a leading man, starts with a singularly unpromising conceit: afraid
to lose their beloved handler who feels like he needs a better job to win
the girl of his dreams, the zoo’s animals break their Code of Silence to
teach him how to romance her. But a funny thing happened while five
guys (including James) labored over this script: Zookeeper
works that unpromising concept for surprising insight into the way so many
of our mating rituals are as simplistic and unfulfilling as a wolf marking
his territory by peeing on a tree. Plus, it sports a genuinely winning
couple in James and Rosario Dawson, whose blue collar charm would light
up any romcom, and some great vocal performances as the animals, particularly
Nick Nolte, who brings more pathos to a talking gorilla who goes to TGIFridays
than one would have believed possible. There are limits to this kind
of nonsense, of course, but the thing about Zookeeper is that it
isn’t all nonsense: in some ways, it’s the most perceptive movie
about the modern dating scene I’ve seen all year.
Zookeeper
Griffin Keyes (Kevin James) stages a fairy tale proposal to the girl of
his dreams, Stephanie (Leslie Bibb), who promptly dumped him, explaining
that the job he loved would forever waste his potential. Five years
later, Griffin remains happily settled in at the zoo, tending to a group
of animals who love him. How do we know this? Well, they can
talk, that’s how, and do so at nightly meetings after the zoo closes and
the humans are gone. They’ve witnessed a rehearsal dinner for the
wedding of Griffin’s brother (Nat Faxon) where Stephanie turns up again
showing an inclination to take Griffin back… if only he’d ditch that job.
The animals decide to save their cushy relationship with their beloved
keeper by fixing the couple up, although Joe the Lion (voice of Sylvester
Stallone) insists that NO ONE speak to Griffin. Of course, one screwed-up
attempt is all it takes to have Joe himself bawling the zookeeper out,
and now he gets to know his animals on a level no human ever has before.
The saddest story at the zoo is that of Bernie the Gorilla (Nick Nolte),
framed by cruel Shane (Donnie Wahlberg) for attacking him years before
and now confined to an indoor enclosure. The animals do their best
to teach Griffin their mating rituals, which revolve around marking their
territory with urine and marching around like an idiot. On their
suggestion, he gets a date to make Stephanie jealous at the wedding, his
good friend and co-worker Kate (Rosario Dawson). In fact, everything
the animals suggested works like a charm at the big event, including the
ritual of skillfully making Stephanie feel bad about herself so he can
lift her up with a compliment. Soon, they’re puddy in each other’s
hands, she fawning over Griffin at every turn and he abandoning the zoo
to take a “successful” job as a high-end car salesman. Will Griffin
see what he’s lost at the zoo, including the girl he’s really meant to
be with, before it’s too late?
You’ve
seen the mechanics of Zookeeper’s plot a million times before, and
more often than not, those gears turned in a pretty painful manner.
But the biggest thing that works in its favor is that it’s not really made
for kids. Sure, they’ll be diverted by the talking animals, but the
real heart and soul of the Zookeeper is Griffin’s misguided attempt
to turn himself into someone Stephanie will love while someone who’ll really
make him happy is right under his nose, a storyline played in a decidedly
grown-up manner. What struck me as new an interesting is the way
both parties in the Stephanie/Griffin couple play on the others’ weaknesses,
creating a dynamic where they both think they have their partner right
where they want them while they themselves are getting played. And
while I’ve never seen a relationship with the dynamics of those in the
average “Kate Hudson works at a great New York Magazine but can’t find
love!” movie, I know bazoodles of people drawn over and over into this
sort of couple. Even the animal stuff is surprisingly mature:
I liked how, rather than being experts on human mores, the critters teach
Griffin to court the same way they do, but then those skills prove to be
pretty much exactly the same ones we DO use. And the subplot about
poor Bernie is awfully poignant for scenes with James playing opposite
a guy in a monkey suit, even when the movie’s going bananas and sending
them on that birthday road trip to Friday's.
A lot
of this comes down to skillful casting. As I previously mentioned,
James is as good at generating genuine empathy as anyone working in this
genre, and he’s also really skilled at the whole “I’m obsessed with a fringe
occupation” hook movies like this always seem to be built on. Dawson
is incredibly charming at the same time as she never seems to break a sweat
reaching for effect. And Bibb is an old pro at playing odious maneaters,
here adding the interesting twist that her Stephanie isn’t so much a cunning
schemer as someone who’s hard-wired to be insincere. Wahlberg makes
a very convincing blue collar jerk, and even Ken Jeong’s tiresome schtick
is toned down. The film benefits from having real actors do most
of the heavy lifting in the talking animal bits, with Nolte getting ridiculous
amounts of mileage out of being reeeeeeeally sad as the abused gorilla
and Stallone bellowing with conviction. Adam Sandler (monkey), Judd
Apatow (elephant) and Jon Favreau (bear) all have funny bits as well.
The same can’t be said of Maya Rudolph’s sassy giraffe, a character type
more at home in the likes of Cats & Dogs:
The Revenge of Kitty Galore.
Zookeeper’s
no masterpiece, but it is a surprisingly skillful fusion of romantic comedy
and talking animal kids movie. It’s also a confirmation that Paul
Blart was no fluke: with the right material, Kevin James really
is a movie star. Truth be told, he’s a better one than that talking
monkey dude who gave him his start. |
