Osmosis Jones

Osmosis Jones
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bobby Farrelly Peter Farrelly Piet Kroon Tom Sito
Written by	Marc Hyman
Produced by	Dennis Edwards Bobby Farrelly Peter Farrelly Zak Penn Bradley Thomas
Starring	Chris Rock Laurence Fishburne David Hyde Pierce Brandy Norwood William Shatner Molly Shannon Chris Elliott Bill Murray
Cinematography	Mark Irwin
Edited by	Lois Freeman-Fox Stephen Schaffer Sam Seig
Music by	Randy Edelman
Production companies	Warner Bros. Feature Animation Conundrum Entertainment
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	August 7, 2001 (2001-08-07) (premiere) August 10, 2001 (2001-08-10) (United States)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$70 million[1]
Box office	$14 million[2]

Osmosis Jones is a 2001 American live-action/animated buddy cop action comedy film directed by Piet Kroon and Tom Sito handling the animation and the Farrelly brothers directing the live-action sequences. Featuring the voices of Chris Rock, Laurence Fishburne, David Hyde Pierce, Brandy Norwood and William Shatner alongside live actors such as Bill Murray, Molly Shannon and Chris Elliott, the film centers on Frank DeTorre, a slovenly zookeeper who contracts a deadly virus known as Thrax; the live-action sequences are set outside Frank's body while the animated sequences are set inside his body, which is depicted as a city inhabited by anthropomorphic parameciums. In the animated sequences, white blood cell cop Osmosis "Ozzy" Jones and cold pill Drixenol "Drix" Koldreliff attempt to prevent virus Thrax from killing Frank within forty-eight hours.

Produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and the Farrelly brothers' Conundrum Entertainment, Osmosis Jones had its premiere on August 7, 2001, and was released in theaters three days later. The film was met with mixed reviews from critics, who praised its animation, story and voice performances but criticized its live-action portions and overuse of gross-out humor. It grossed just $14 million worldwide against a $70 million budget, making it a major box-office bomb. A spin-off television series titled Ozzy & Drix later ran on Kids' WB from 2002 to 2004.

Plot[]

Frank DeTorre is an unkempt and slovenly zookeeper at the Sucat Memorial Zoo in Rhode Island. Depressed by the loss of his wife Maggie, he copes by overeating and foregoing basic hygiene, much to the concern of his daughter, Shane. Inside his body, which is called the "City of Frank" by its anthropomorphic inhabitants, white blood cell Osmosis "Ozzy" Jones is an overzealous officer of the Frank Police Department, the city's center for responses against bodily threats. He was demoted to patrol duty in the mouth after causing Frank to vomit on Shane's teacher Mrs. Boyd, due to Frank eating an oyster contaminated with some infectious bacteria, against orders, which led to Frank becoming the town laughingstock, and also being fired from his previous job from a pea soup factory, and banned from visiting Shane's school due to a restraining order filed by Mrs. Boyd.

A few years later, facing a serious challenge to his re-election prospects, Mayor Phlegmming doubles down on his junk food policies, ignoring their effect on Frank's health. This causes Frank to eat a boiled egg that stumbles into a chimpanzee's habitat, allowing Thrax, a deadly virus known as "The Red Death", to enter his body. Phlegmming instructs Frank to take a cold pill through brain signals. The pill, Drixenol "Drix" Koldreliff, proceeds to disinfect the throat, covering up evidence of Thrax's arrival. Ozzy is told to assist Drix in his investigation, much to his displeasure. Thrax assumes leadership of a gang of sweat germs and launches an attack on Frank's nose, nearly killing Drix before Ozzy rescues him.

The duo pay a visit to Chill, a flu vaccine and one of Ozzy's informants, who directs them to Thrax's hideout in a germ-ridden nightclub in a large zit on Frank's forehead. Ozzy goes undercover and infiltrates Thrax's gang, where he learns that Thrax, wanting infamy as the deadliest virus in medical history, intends to masquerade as a common cold and use his knowledge of DNA to kill Frank within forty-eight hours. When Ozzy is discovered, Drix comes to his aid, causing a brawl which culminates in the zit being popped by a grenade. Its pus lands on Mrs. Boyd's lip during a meeting with her and Frank, foiling Frank's chance to apologize to her. In response, Phlegmming furiously closes the investigation, having Ozzy fired from the force and ordering Drix to leave Frank's body after reminding the latter that his services are only temporary.

Unbeknownst to the duo, Thrax has survived the zit's destruction and, after killing his remaining henchmen, proceeds to launch a lone assault on the hypothalamus where he steals a crucial nucleotide. He then abducts Phlegmming's secretary, Leah Estrogen, and flees to the mouth to escape. His actions disable the body's ability to regulate temperature and cause Frank to develop a dangerous fever. As Frank is taken to the hospital, Ozzy, having discovered Thrax's survival, reunites with Drix and convinces him not to leave. The two catch up to Thrax in the uvula and rescue Leah. Thrax uses pollen to induce Frank to sneeze himself out of his mouth. Drix then shoots Ozzy after him and they land on Shane's cornea. As they fight, they end up on one of Shane's false eyelashes. Ozzy tricks Thrax into getting his hand embedded in the lash and escapes just as it falls into a beaker of rubbing alcohol, where Thrax dissolves.

As Frank's temperature surpasses 108 degrees, he goes into cardiac arrest. Riding on one of Shane's tears as she mourns her father, Ozzy returns to Frank's body with the stolen nucleotide, reviving him just in time. Ozzy is then welcomed back into the police force as he begins a relationship with Leah and Drix stays as Ozzy's new partner. Having narrowly cheated death, Frank commits himself to living a healthier lifestyle, which results in Phlegmming being removed from office and his opponent, Tom Colonic, replacing him. Phlegmming is reduced to janitorial duty in the bowels, where he accidentally ejects himself from Frank's body by triggering his flatulence.

Cast[]

• Bill Murray as Frank DeTorre, Shane's father and Bob's brother. Therefore, the animated scenes of the film take place inside his body, which is referred to by its inhabitants as "The City of Frank".
• as Shane DeTorre, Frank's 10-year-old daughter and Bob's 10-year old niece.
• Molly Shannon as Mrs. Boyd, Shane's science and P.E. teacher.
• Chris Elliott as Bob DeTorre, Frank's brother and Shane's uncle.

Voices[]

• Chris Rock as Osmosis "Ozzy" Jones, an overzealous white blood cell with little respect for authority.
• Laurence Fishburne as Thrax, an extremely virulent pathogenic agent.
• David Hyde Pierce as Drixenol "Drix" Koldreliff, a stoic cold pill who became Ozzy's best friend/partner.
• Brandy as Leah Estrogen, Mayor Phlegmming's secretary and Ozzy's love interest.
• William Shatner as Mayor Phlegmming (credited as "The Mayor"), the self-centered and corrupt mayor of the "City of Frank".
• Ron Howard as Tom Colonic, Phlegmming's rival for the mayoralty of the "City of Frank".
• Joel Silver (uncredited) as the Police Chief, Ozzy's boss.
• Steve Susskind as Mob Germ Boss
• Carlos Alazraqui as Spanish Germ
• Antonio Fargas as Chill, a flu vaccine and Ozzy's informant
• Rodger Bumpass as Announcer for Nerve News Network (N.N.N.) / Joe Cramp
• Paul Christie as Dan Matter / Germ
• Richard Steven Horvitz as Male Red Blood Cell #1
• Kid Rock as Kidney Rock
• Joe C. as Kidney Rock (Released Posthumously)
• Herschel Sparber as Bruiser
• Eddie Barth as Conductor
• Robert Wisdom as Big Germ
• Paul Pape as Male Red Blood Cell #2
• Al Rodrigo as the Frank P.D. walkie-talkie
• Doug Stone as Police Officer with Big Germ / Jamie, a police officer of Frank P.D. who broke his neck, arm, and leg due to Germ #2
• Anne Lockhart as Female Red Blood Cell
• Jonathan Adams as Tom, a police officer of Frank P.D. who broke his arm just like Jamie.
• Sherry Lynn as Trudy McCartney, a news reporter for Nerve News Network (N.N.N.) who works with Dan Matter.
• Chris Phillips as Doug, a firefighter who is a close friend of Ozzy.
• Donald Fullilove as Doughnut
• Rif Hutton as Charlie, one of Thrax's minions.
• Eddie Frierson as a police officer of Frank P.D.
• "Stuttering" John Melendez as Artie (a nod to former fellow Howard Stern Show alum Artie Lange)

Production[]

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Osmosis Jones went through development hell during production. The animated sequences, directed by Tom Sito and Piet Kroon, went into production as planned, but acquiring both a director and a star actor for the live-action sequences took a considerable amount of time, until Bill Murray was cast as the main character of Frank, and Peter and Bobby Farrelly stepped in to direct the live-action sequences. As part of their contract, the Farrelly brothers are credited as the primary directors of the film, although they did no supervision of the animated portions of the film. Will Smith was interested in the part of Ozzy, but in the end his schedule would not permit it.

Principal Photography on the live-action scenes took place from April 2 to June 19, 2000 in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Osmosis Jones was originally rated PG-13 by the MPAA for "crude language" and "bodily humor" in 2000. However, Warner Bros. edited the film to make it family-friendly; and in 2001 when it was released, the film was re-rated PG on appeal for "bodily humor".^{[citation needed]}

Release[]

Marketing[]

The first trailer for Osmosis Jones was released in front of Pokemon 3: The Movie on April 6, 2001, and contains a classical masterpiece from Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Home media[]

Osmosis Jones was released on VHS and DVD on November 13, 2001.

Reception[]

Box office[]

Osmosis Jones had its world premiere screening on August 7, 2001, at the Grauman's Egyptian Theatre before being widely released on August 10, 2001, in 2,305 theaters worldwide. Upon its original release, the film was a financial stump and was the second-to-last project produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation (preceding The Iron Giant and followed by Looney Tunes: Back in Action, which both also failed at the box office upon their original releases). The film opened at #7 in its first opening weekend at the U.S. box office, accumulating $5,271,248 on its opening week. The film soon grossed $13,596,911.^[1] The film was a box office bomb, unable to recover its $70 million production budget.

Critical response[]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 55% based on 110 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The animated portion of Osmosis is zippy and fun, but the live-action portion is lethargic."^[3] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[4] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.^[5]

The animated parts of Osmosis Jones were praised for their plot and fast pace, in contrast with the criticized live action segments. Robert Koehler of Variety praised the film for its animated and live-action segments intervening, claiming it to be "the most extensive interplay of live-action and animation since Who Framed Roger Rabbit".^[6] The New York Times wrote "the film, with its effluvia-festival brand of humor, is often fun, and the rounded, blobby rendering of the characters is likable. But the picture tries too hard to be offensive to all ages. I suspect that even the littlest viewers will be too old for that spit."^[7] Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 and wrote: "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."^[8]

The use of gross-out humor in the film's live-action sequences, as seen in most films directed by the Farrelly brothers, was widely criticized. As such, Lisa Alspector of the Chicago Reader described the film as a "cathartically disgusting adventure movie".^[9] Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide praised the film's animation and its glimpse of intelligence although did criticize the humor as being "so distasteful".^[10] Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly felt that the film had a diverse premise as it "oscillates between streaky black comedy and sanitary instruction", however the scatological themes were again pointed out.^{[citation needed]} Jonathan Foreman of New York Post claimed Osmosis Jones to have generic plotting, saying that "It's no funnier than your average grade-school biology lesson and less pedagogically useful than your typical Farrelly brothers comedy."^{[citation needed]} Michael Sragow of Baltimore Sun praised David Hyde Pierce's performance as Drix, claiming him to be "hilarious" and "a take-charge dose of medicine".^{[citation needed]}

The film received numerous Annie Award nominations including Best Animated Feature (losing to Shrek).^{[citation needed]}

Soundtrack[]

A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on August 7, 2001, by Atlantic Records. The soundtrack failed to chart on the Billboard 200, but Trick Daddy's single "Take It to da House" managed to make it to number 88 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

See also[]

• Once Upon a Time... Life, an animated series with similar anthropomorphic representations of cells and germs.
• Ozzy & Drix, an animated series that serves as a continuation of the film.
• Cells at Work!, a Japanese manga/anime series with a similar premise.
• Inner Workings, a Disney short film that is set in the human body.
• Inside Out, a Pixar computer-animated film that is set inside the human brain.

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Osmosis Jones

• Osmosis Jones at IMDb
• Osmosis Jones at The Big Cartoon DataBase