Kangaroo Jack is a 2003 crime comedy film produced by Castle Rock Entertainment and Jerry Bruckheimer Films, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, directed by David McNally with a screenplay by Steve Bing and Scott Rosenberg from a story by Bing and Barry O'Brien. The film is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer with music by Trevor Rabin and stars Jerry O'Connell, Anthony Anderson, Estella Warren, Michael Shannon, and Christopher Walken with Adam Garcia as the uncredited voice of Kangaroo Jack. Kangaroo Jack was theatrically released on January 17, 2003.
The film was universally panned by critics, who criticized the acting, directing, writing, humor, violence and innuendoes, especially for a family film, and false advertising, although the visuals and soundtrack were praised. Despite the mostly negative reception, it was a box office success and grossed $88.1 million on a $60 million budget. Kangaroo Jack was released on DVD and VHS on June 24, 2003, by Warner Home Video.
An animated sequel titled Kangaroo Jack: G'Day U.S.A.! was produced and released on video in 2004.
Plot[]
In 1982 Brooklyn, a boy named Charlie Carbone is about to become the stepson of a crime boss named Salvatore Maggio. The mobster's juvenile delinquent apprentice Frankie Lombardo tries to drown Charlie, but a boy named Louis Booker saves him and they become best friends.
Twenty years later, in 2002, Charlie now runs his own beauty salon and Louis still remains his best friend, but Sal's henchmen take a majority of the salon's profits, leaving Charlie very little for improvements. After they botch the job of hiding some stolen television sets, resulting in the discovery of Sal's warehouse and the arrest of at least one of his men, Sal gives Charlie and Louis one more chance. Under instructions from Frankie, they are to deliver a package to a man named "Mr. Smith" in Coober Pedy, Australia. Frankie also warns them against opening the package "under any circumstances" and to call Mr. Smith at the phone number he gives them should they run into any trouble. Unknown to Charlie and Louis, however, Sal tells his Capo that he is "canceling their return trip."
On the plane, Louis opens the package, against Frankie's warnings, to find $50,000 in cash. Upon landing in Australia, they rent a Land Cruiser and head to Mr. Smith. Along their way, they accidentally run over a red kangaroo. Thinking it is dead, Louis puts his "lucky jacket" on the kangaroo and with Charlie's sunglasses to pose for photographs as a joke, as he thinks the kangaroo looks like "Jackie Legs", one of Sal's henchmen from Canarsie. The kangaroo then suddenly regains consciousness and hops away with one problem; the $50,000 was in the jacket. Charlie and Louis get into their car and try to reclaim the money from the jacket on the kangaroo, but the ensuing chase ends with the duo crashing through a field of termite mounds and then into a pile of rocks, wrecking the car.
At a pub in Alice Springs, Louis manages to call Mr. Smith and tries to explain their situation. Mr. Smith, however, thinks they stole his package and threatens to kill Louis and Charlie, telling him that they had better have the money ready when he meets them, or he'll "chop them into snags and feed them to the crocodiles"; he then plans to find them himself. Back in New York City, Sal gets the call from Mr. Smith saying that Charlie and Louis haven't arrived; Sal then sends Frankie and some men to Australia to investigate.
Meanwhile, Charlie and Louis attempt to reclaim the money from the kangaroo by shooting it with a tranquilizer dart from a biplane. The attempt fails when Louis accidentally shoots Blue the pilot and strands the duo in the desert. They spend many hours wandering in the desert, during which Charlie hallucinates about a jeep, and they soon meet a woman from the Outback Wildlife Foundation called Jessie, who Louis previously met in Alice Springs. Thinking she is only a mirage, Charlie grabs her breasts and she knocks him out with her canteen. While unconscious, Charlie dreams about meeting a speaking, rapping version of the kangaroo, while Sal and Louis mock him in kangaroo forms.
The following day, the trio then track the kangaroo at the nearby Todd River and try again to catch it with bolas, but Louis accidentally botches their attempt when a swarm of ants crawls up his pants. While waiting for the next opportunity to catch the kangaroo, Charlie begins developing feelings for Jessie, which she claims not to return at first, but he senses that she is lying.
The next day, Mr. Smith and his henchmen arrive and capture the trio. Charlie and Louis turn the tables and outsmart them, only to find Frankie has tracked them and is prepared to kill them. Just as he is about to however, the kangaroo suddenly returns causing a fist fight between Mr. Smith's henchmen and Frankie's crew, who outmatch them. The distraction allows Charlie, Louis, and Jessie to escape on their camels. A final three-way chase ensues, with Charlie, Louis and Jessie chasing after the kangaroo while being pursued by Frankie and his goons. Louis finally manages to retrieve the money from the kangaroo but ends up nearly falling down a cliff and is narrowly saved by Charlie and Jessie.
After getting the money back, Charlie tries to hand it over to Frankie once and for all, but the latter angrily declines and reveals that Sal really sent them to Australia to pay for their own execution at the hands of Mr. Smith much to the shock of Charlie and Louis. Out of nowhere, the police force led by an undercover cop Mr./Sgt. Jimmy Inkamale arrive and arrest Frankie, Mr. Smith, and their respective henchmen. Charlie and Louis call each other true friends, and Charlie reclaims Louis' lucky jacket from the kangaroo, who turns out to have a family.
One year later, Charlie and Jessie are married and have used Sal's $50,000 to start a line of new hair care products bearing a kangaroo logo, and Louis has become Charlie's advertising partner. Frankie, Mr. Smith, and their men have been imprisoned for life as has Sal who has failed at using his high-level connections to avoid arrest as mentioned in Charlie's narration where the newspaper states that he is currently on trial. The kangaroo, now called "Kangaroo Jack", is still happily living in the outback. Now able to speak again, Jack breaks the fourth wall, explaining why the film should end with him and closes it with his version of Porky Pig's famous catchphrase "That's all, blokes!"
Cast[]
- Jerry O'Connell as Charlie Carbone, the owner of a beauty salon.
- Robert Reid as young Charlie Carbone
- Anthony Anderson as Louis Booker, the best friend of Charlie. Anderson also voiced his kangaroo counterpart in Charlie's nightmare.
- Shawn Smith as young Louis Booker
- Estella Warren as Jessie, a member of the Outback Wildlife Foundation that helps Charlie and Louis.
- Michael Shannon as Frankie Lombardo, a gangster who is the apprentice of Sal.
- Brian Casey as young Frankie Lombardo
- Christopher Walken as Salvatore "Sal" Maggio, a mobster and Charlie's stepfather. Walken also voiced his kangaroo counterpart in Charlie's nightmare.
- Dyan Cannon as Anna Carbone, Charlie's mother
- Adam Garcia as Kangaroo "Jackie Legs" Jack (voice, uncredited), a red kangaroo who Louis put his "lucky jacket" on.
- Marton Csokas as Mr. Smith, a man who Charlie and Louis are to deliver a package to.
- Bill Hunter as Blue, a pilot who Charlie and Louis enlist to help catch Jack.
- Tony Nikolakopoulos as Sal's Capo, an unnamed capo who works for Sal.
- David Ngoombujarra as Sr. Sgt. Mr. Jimmy Inkamale, a man who is an undercover member of the Australian Police
- Christopher James Baker as Crumble
- Lara Cox as a cute girl on an airplane