Welcome to the Jungle

This was actually a decent tongue-firmly-in-cheek, quasi-Lord of the Flies-remake. It is absurd and blatant but light and funny, and I believe it is in-on-the-joke more than critics will admit. Performances range from commendably self-deprecating (Van Damme as Storm) to plain (the gorgeous Megan Boone, and the likable Adam Brody) to intentionally terrible (Rob Huebel as Phil) to just terrible (Kristopher van Varenberg). Yet again, Kristopher van Varenberg can only get work when his father, Jean-Claude Van Damme, says he won't do the film otherwise, or something very similar (probably). The same goes for his daughter, Bianca Bree, and they both changed their names to hide that fact (probably). But these are only small roles anyway, so it does not affect the finished product. Many of the jokes land with a thud, but it never takes away from the main, on-going preposterous circumstances; a group of adults turn into worshipers of the office prick in just about two days of a team building trip.

The film also ends with "Karate" by Kennedy, so props for including that, and it is very fitting too, as the film conjures up a similar feeling material confidence that those Dollar Shave commercials did.

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