Kangaroo Jack

Directed by David McNally, Kangaroo Jack follows childhood friends Charlie (Jerry O’Connell) and Louis (Anthony Anderson) as they’re tasked with delivering an envelope full of money to a shady Australian figure (Marton Csokas’ Mr. Smith) – with complications ensuing after a kangaroo hops away with Louis’ jacket (which contains the aforementioned money). It’s a larger-than-life premise that’s employed to watchable yet entirely disposable effect by McNally, as the filmmaker, armed with Steve Bing and Scott Rosenberg’s screenplay, offers up a pervasively silly endeavor that is, admittedly, buoyed by its easygoing vibe and smattering of effective performances – with, in terms of the latter, O’Connell’s affable turn often eclipsed by an eclectic periphery cast that includes Christopher Walken, Bill Hunter, and Dyan Cannon. (Michael Shannon’s entertainingly menacing turn as a tenacious goon remains an ongoing highlight, to be sure.) There’s little doubt, then, that one’s interest is tested by a progressively frenetic third act with few compelling attributes, which, when coupled with a pervasively forgettable atmosphere, ultimately does cement Kangaroo Jack‘s place as a decent-enough time-waster that feels long even at just 89 minutes.

**1/2 out of ****