His Name's Jones: Osmosis Jones

When one thinks of the Farrelly brothers, they inevitably think about some of the grossest scenes in movie history. The beer bottle in Dumb and Dumber, the "hair gel" in There's Something About Mary, and the infamous "it wasn't for me, it was for you" sex toy scene in last year's Me, Myself and Irene. This time out, however, the Farrellys are attacking family fare with a mix of live action and animation in Osmosis Jones. So what's the main difference between this and previous Farrelly fare? Simply, the toilet humor has been turned up a notch, and the sexual humor is non-existant.

The movie opens by focusing on Frank (Bill Murray), a disgusting man who doesn't eat right, sees his 4 steps at home as "too many", and god only knows when he last bathed or shaved regularly.

His daughter is Shane (a spunky Elena Franklin), who worries about her father and his health greatly after losing her mother to what is left to the viewer to believe is not taking care of herself.

Frank works in a zoo after being fired from his previous job for an incident at his daughter's school where he threw up all over Shane's teacher, Mrs. Boyd (the ever annoying Molly Shannon). He also believes in the 10 second rule, which was the 5 second rule when I was growing up. If food hits the floor, it's still ok to eat if you pick it up within 10 seconds. So Frank eats an egg that drops to the ground that had just been in the mouth of a monkey. Within hours, he is overcome by what seems to be a common cold. Cut to the animation.

The title character, Osmosis Jones (voiced by Chris Rock) is a hotshot white blood cell on the police force in the City of Frank. He grew up on the wrong side of the colon, "in the crack," which immediately makes him likable as the underdog. Everything inside Frank is like a city, including a mayor who only cares about himself and his re-election (voiced by William Shatner), and his aide Leah (voiced by R&B songstress Brandy Norwood) who follows his orders despite her better intuitions.

In reality, Frank doesn't have a cold, he has a virus who goes by the name of Thrax (voiced by Laurence Fishburne) who wants Frank to think all he has is a cold. Thrax has a large inferiority complex, which is shown by him yelling at the mob that festers in Frank's armpit when they mention the Ebola virus. "Ebola is a case of dandruff compared to me!"

Osmosis Jones is ordered to meet his partner in the stomach, Drix (short for a pill called Drixenol, voiced by David Hyde Pierce) and together they are supposed to fight off the cold.

It's safe to say that after watching Osmosis Jones that you will never look at your body the same way again, especially when you're sick. The Farrellys have made sure a masterful job was done with their ideas, and it creates not only more than a good amount of laughs, but a nice story as well.

The laughs mostly come from the bowels and the bladder, which, with the Farrellys, is hardly a surprise. However, as usual with their movies, there's a bit of heart here too. Rock's character is not only vulnerable (usual good cop tries good things and they backfire) but he has an attitude and he also has toned down his x-rated language for this role. Pierce is perfect as the foil for Rock, as in many ways they are just a mismatched cop team. They don't work quite as well as Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, but the job they do do is commendable.

It's Fishburne, however, who truly steals the show. His getto-like voice that he created for Thrax is perfect, especially considering his main enemy is Mr Getto himself, Rock. Fishburne brings a certain class to the film as well. Despite the fact he's evil, you almost find yourself rooting for him.

Sadly, the live action scenes are stale and dull. The only memorable moment is the zit incident with Murray and Shannon, but other than that, they just drag the movie along with no real point, other than to show the straining relationship between Frank and Shane.

This has been the summer of the family film, and Osmosis Jones continues that. Shrek was near perfect, Cats and Dogs was a cute caper, and now Osmosis Jones completes the trifecta of 2001. I just wish the live action scenes weren't so painful to sit through.