Foxx and company flounder in bland Annie
FILM | Chuck Koplinski
Whenever someone decides to tinker with a classic I can’t help but be a bit skeptical about the entire affair. Such is the case with Annie, “a modern re-imagining of a beloved musical” according to two of its producers, Will Smith and Jay Z. What with two traditional versions already adapted – one for the big screen in 1982, the other for television in 1999 – another go around with the Depression-era story is probably unnecessary. So, updating the story of the precocious Little Orphan Annie to mirror modern concerns isn’t necessarily a bad idea. Unfortunately, a bit of the magic is missing here as the young star in the title role is too self-conscious to completely win us over, while the film’s director, Will Gluck of Easy A and Friends with Benefits fame, is ill-suited to stage a production of this sort.
Instead of being stuck in an orphanage, Annie (Quvenzhane Wallis) is foster kid who lives with the deplorable gold-digger Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz) watching over her and four other young girls just to draw a monthly check for her trouble. However, fate intervenes one day when our little moppet is saved from being hit by a speeding van by Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx), a billionaire who’s running for mayor. His campaign is suffering as he simply doesn’t have the common touch and is unable to connect with voters. However, when footage of this rescue goes viral, his campaign manager Guy (Bobby Cannavale) senses an opportunity. Wheeling and dealing behind the scenes, he arranges for Annie to come live with Stacks for the duration of the race, a move that results immediately with a rise in the polls. However, Stacks’ lovely assistant Grace (Rose Byrne) is leery of the whole situation.
The changes made to the original songs are in keeping with the shift in eras, while many of the familiar tunes are used as background music, played at an upbeat tempo, which alludes to the story’s roots while setting a positive tone. Of the three songs written exclusively for the film, two are standouts – “Opportunity,” which finds Annie singing of the changes that have occurred since she’s been living with Stacks and “Who Am I?” a three-part number between Hannigan, Stacks and Annie in which they each take stock of key decisions they’ve made. Not only are these two songs well written and clever, they each lend an emotional weight to the story the film sorely needs.
However, the staging of these numbers and many more are woefully unimaginative and smack of a junior high production. At least three songs take place in Hannigan’s cramped apartment, preventing any sort of eye-popping choreography to take place while two other songs are staged on the roof of Stacks’ Manhattan office building, a setting so stark it might as well have been done in a warehouse. Meanwhile, the show’s signature song, “Tomorrow,” finds Annie warbling as she walks down a NYC street and nothing more. Gluck is obviously in over his head here and while the music continues to be engaging there isn’t one memorable set piece in the entire film, making this a half-musical of sorts – all song, no dance. Only “I Think I’m Gonna Like it Here,” where Annie and Grace explore Stacks’ eco-friendly penthouse contains any sense of pep or innovation.
Wallis does her best to bring the necessary charm to the title character but she never finds the right tone, underplaying to the point of disinterest at one point, laying it on too thick at another. This lack of consistency lies at Gluck’s feet as well as he fails to provide adequate guidance for the young performer. The movie only comes alive when Foxx, Byrne and Cannavale share the screen as these three pros banter back and forth with crackerjack timing, effortlessly generating a lighthearted tone and sense of fun the others labor to create. In the end, this “modern re-imagining” lacks that very quality.
Contact Chuck Koplinski at [email protected].
