Osmosis Jones

Released 2001
Stars Bill Murray, Elena Franklin, Molly Shannon, Chris Elliott
Voices Chris Rock, Laurence Fishburne, David Hyde Pierce, Brandy Norwood, William Shatner, Ron Howard
Directed by Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly

"Osmosis Jones" is like the dark side of those animated educational films depicting the goings-on in the bowels. It takes us inside the human body for a tour of such uncharted neighborhoods as the Lower East Backside, and such useful organs as the Puke Button. These sights are depicted in colorful, gloppy, drippy animation, and then we switch to live action for the outside of the body in question, which belongs to a man named Frank (Bill Murray). Frank follows the Ten-Second Rule, which teaches us that if food is dropped and stays on the ground less than 10 seconds, it's still safe to eat. In the case of the hard-boiled egg in question, he might also have reflected that before the egg dropped, he had to pry it from the mouth of a monkey. The egg is crawling with germs, sending the inside of his body into emergency mode.

Who is the movie for? Despite my descriptions, it is nowhere near as gross as the usual effort, and steers clear of adventures in the genital areas. It was originally classified PG-13, but was upgraded to PG after some trims, and is likely to entertain kids, who seem to like jokes about anatomical plumbing. For adults, there is the exuberance of the animation and the energy of the whole movie, which is just plain clever.

Summary by Roger Ebert

This movie's a lot of fun. It's rated PG, but I had no problem watching it with my two young'uns (aged 5 and 7). In fact, I thought it was pretty educational in showing some of the inner workings of the body. Fortunately, I was able to look past Chris Rock and the hip-hop music, which was annoying but not too annoying. Also, they did a good job with Bill Murray's make-up to make him look increasingly ill. --Bill Alward, December 21, 2001