The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee (2020)

Paul Hogan returns in this quirky comedy based on his life after Crocodile Dundee.  While his manager, Angie (Rachael Carpani), tries to get him a new movie deal and arrange his imminent knighthood, Paul's life spins out of control through a series of unfortunate events.  First, he defended himself from a snake by batting it away... into the face of a 5th grade teacher!  Oops.  Next, he doesn't like the movie pitch where Will Smith is his son... because he's black.  Did they not see the previous Dundee movies?  Of course, that's not how the press reports it.  When he finds himself in a car chase from the police through the street of LA, it has really gotten out of hand.  If it can go wrong, it does.

Though there is the overall arc of Paul's public life becoming a nightmare, he rolls with the punches and isn't much concerned by it.  Some of the comedy bits have nothing to do with the life-in-ruins arc, just random sketch comedy.  Wayne Knight as a bad house guest, failed paparazzi loitering at his house, and so forth.  I'm generally baffled why his 'son' had such a large part in the movie since he really didn't add anything.  Wow, you've got a multi-talented son who has an active social life.  This is light and fun, an entertaining diversion with a wide-variety of cameos.  John Cleese is the standout as an Uber driver, but there is also Olivia Newton-John, Reginald VelJohnson, and Oscar-winner Chevy Chase.

Some of the best comedy had nothing to do with the storyline.  At one point, the producers suggested a new Crocodile Dundee film where his wife has been killed and he's out for vengeance with a sexy park ranger!  Rachel McAdams is suggested.  Paul shakes his head.  "I'm 80!  She's like 30."

"Right!  She's too old!  Who was in High School Musical that we can cast?"  Funny!

A large chunk of the movie is Paul watching how the news reports his misadventures.  There's texting and facetime, news programs and red-carpet interviews.  Life as a celebrity is a PR campaign.

Fun and nostalgic.  Recommended.

Crocodile Dundee Trilogy

I spent the weekend watching the defining works of Paul Hogan and was generally happy with the time spent.  Interestingly, I only saw Crocodile Dundee II in the theaters.  I must have seen the first when it came out on VHS and my first view of Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles was this weekend, only 15 years after its release.  The most interesting thing about the series is that they each fall in a different genre though with some common elements.

 

Crocodile Dundee (1986): Sue Charleton (Linda Kozlowski) is a reporter on assignment in Australia.  She wants to do one more story before she goes back to New York City.  She has heard of a man who lost part of his leg to a crocodile but somehow survived and crawled back to civilization over a several week period.  She is less than impressed when she first meets Michael "Mick" Dundee (Paul Hogan).  However, as the two spend time together retracing his adventure in the outback, she becomes increasingly attached.  Mick is likewise attracted to her and returns to NYC with her.  The second half of the movie has Mick in an extended fish out of water routine that is quite fun.  This is a romantic comedy.

 

Crocodile Dundee II (1988): It has been several months since the last film and Mick is still in NYC.  Sue's ex-husband, a photojournalist, has sent a roll of film to her that will ruin a noteworthy Columbian druglord, Louis Rico.  Rico sends men to retrieve the film before it falls into the hands of the DEA, kidnapping Sue in the process.  Mick rescues her and then takes her to Australia where he can protect her from the druglord's reprisals.  The fish out of water routine constituted the first half of this film while Outback adventure was the second half.  This is an action comedy.

 

Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001): Mick and Sue have remained in the Australian outback since the last movie, Mick having resumed his Never Never Tours.  They have an 11 year-old son, Mick Jr.  When Mick returns one evening, Sue says that her father wants her to run the LA branch of his paper while he seeks a new editor; the last one died in a mysterious car accident.  Mick is happy to tag along and practice his fish out of water routine again.  Though the main story is about art smugglers using a movie company as a cover, most of the time is spent on sketch comedy.  Realizing that Mick can't be quite so clueless anymore, they import Jacko (Alec Wilson) as the wide-eyed newcomer to the big city.  This is a crime comedy.

Prior to his smash success with Crocodile Dundee (only Top Gun earned more in 1986), Paul Hogan had enjoyed success with The Paul Hogan Show, a sketch comedy show.  The Crocodile Dundee movies lean heavily on this history, most heavily in the last of the trilogy.  One can imagine Hogan saying "wouldn't it be neat if Mick killed an Indian snake charmer's cobra?"  Well, the story takes place in the outback and NYC, both lacking snake charmers.  Nonetheless, while strolling through a mall, Mick kills a cobra while the snake charmer isn't looking.  Really, who wants to wait for Crocodile Dundee in Calcutta to see that comedy sketch?  Hogan: "Hey, wouldn't it be cool to have Mick chat with a jumper on the ledge of a skyscraper?"  Hmmm, maybe we can shoehorn that in by having Mick deliver... Stationary!  Yes, he can be a stationary delivery man!  Uh, huh?  Such sketches 'jumped the shark' when Mick and Mick Jr. caused a traffic jam on an LA freeway in order to rescue a skunk.  That may have been forgivable if only it had been funny rather than mildly amusing.  One oddity, especially to the modern audience, is that each movie gets laughs at the expense of gays and transsexuals.  I wonder if these scenes are cut for TV reruns in the current PC culture.

All three movies are enjoyable.  The first is the best.  The second leans a bit too campy for the NYC portion of the film, especially with Leroy Brown (Charles Dutton) as the shady character who sells... stationary!  The third goes purely for laughs and doesn't much care about the plot except as an excuse to stitch together some humorous sketches.  More than its predecessors, this feels like a throwback to his old TV show.  Also, by the time this was made, Steve Irwin - a real crocodile hunter - was famous; his Collision Course (2002) proved a success where Dundee in LA was a flop.

All the Crocodile Dundee movies are funny and entertaining.  Definitely worth watching again if you haven't seen them in a while.  If you have never seen them, you need to address that.