Satire and humor run riot in Acme
Propelled by the kind of publicity money can’t buy as well as a cleverly subversive advertising campaign, Dave Green’s Coyote vs. Acme arrives in theaters with great fanfare, an event that seemed destined never to occur two years ago. This was one of three films that David Zaslav, the head of Warner Brothers, decided not to release in order to take a tax write-off for the beleaguered studio. Those anticipating the release of the semi-animated feature, as well as some involved in its making, began to make some noise, demanding it be released.
Ketchup Entertainment didn’t need an anvil to fall on its corporate offices to realize a golden opportunity had presented itself and they soon cut a deal to secure the rights from Warners. Hopefully, this proves to be a shrewd move for the distributor and the movie will appeal to more than just those who grew up watching Warners’ Looney Toons in theaters or on after-school television cartoon programs.
Based on an article – believe it or not – that appeared in The New Yorker, the film wastes little time reacquainting us with the travails of one Wile E. Coyote. Seen being thwarted once more in his efforts to capture the Road Runner, we are treated to moments from past cartoons showing his many mishaps. The one consistent in all of these, other than tremendous bad luck, are his continued use of products from the ACME corporation. Whether it’s a passel of anvils, a giant magnet or a pair of rocket skates, these items always malfunction in some way. (Why Mr. Coyote continues to be the company’s most loyal customer is answered later in the film.)
Cut to the law offices of Avery, Jones and Maltese. Seems accidents of this sort are so commonplace, the firm specializes in settling cases involving cartoon accidents. Kevin Avery (Will Forte) is content to resolve these matters quickly, getting his clients a couple hundred bucks for their pain and suffering. However, his intern Paige (Lana Condor) pushes him to set his sights on a bigger prize when Wile E. walks though their doors. Recognizing a pattern of negligence, she convinces him to go after ACME on his client’s behalf, not only to secure a settlement in the millions but to expose the corporation’s corrupt culture.
Avery is reluctant to do so, but he has a change of heart when he goes to ACME for what he thinks will be a quick settlement. He encounters Buddy Crane (John Cena), lead attorney for the corporation and a former classmate. Ridiculed and bullied while they were students, Avery is irate at their condescending demeanor toward him and his client, inspiring him to pursue the case in court. The head of ACME, Foghorn Leghorn, is far from pleased with this and instructs Crane to quash this case post haste. He does not want the company’s history exposed, wanting to keep a top-secret initiative from long ago, Project Sisyphus, under wraps.
While it’s no Inception, the screenplay by Samy Burch is far more complex than you’d expect. The writer puts the corrupt nature of corporate American under the microscope and with great glee exposes the inequities of the consumer economy. Of course, this is done by showing Wile E. and other characters having pianos dropped on them and such. But the callous attitude of Leghorn (great “casting”) and Crane is what drives home the indifference companies like Amazon, which ACME is clearly based on, have in pursuing the almighty dollar.
The movie is not only thematically on point but serves as a loving tribute to the Warner Brothers’ animated characters. All of the usual suspects appear at one point or another, but it’s the background characters that pop up that point to the studio’s rich history and the filmmaker’s love of them. Obscure creations appear again and again, whether simply wandering in the background or getting a settlement check from Avery, rewarding those viewers deeply steeped in the studio’s lore.
While the film contains a couple too many third-act chases for its own good, the first hour is intriguing from the beginning, one surprise tripping on the heels of another, inventive visual gags inserted along the way. The integration of real-life actors with their animated co-stars is seamless, the flesh-and-blood performers fully invested in maintaining the illusion they’re rubbing shoulders with the creations of Tex Avery, Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese.
A loving tribute with teeth, Coyote vs. Acme proves to be one of 2026’s more imaginative and fun features. Its final shot is a rather poignant reminder of why these characters endure, as the ‘toons behavior has always been a reflection of our own human frailties and hopes. As long as cruel fate thwarts the best-laid plans, Wile E, Coyote will remain relatable, because we identify not only with his misfortunes and but his perseverance as well. In Theaters.
Exceptional acting Tony’s most important ingredient
Essentially “A Portrait of the Chef as a Young Man,” Matt Johnson’s Tony looks at the formative years of Anthony Bourdain, the result being an unvarnished look at a troubled teen desperately trying to find his footing. Buoyed by an exceptional cast, the movie winds up telling of a battle for Bourdain’s soul, as he has an angel on one shoulder, a devil on the other and a crossroads before him that will dictate his destiny.
While the young Bourdain (Dominic Sessa) may have lacked direction, he certainly had no shortage where confidence was concerned. Pretentious and condescending, he’s convinced himself, in the spring of 1975, that God has started to notice him, which in his mind makes him a kind of prophet. He tells anyone who will listen that he’ll be getting a fellowship to Vassar and at the beginning of the next school year, he’ll begin writing the next great American novel. What it will be about, he hasn’t quite worked out yet. But that’s not anything to worry about. He’s a genius, so it’ll just come to him!
As with some of the best laid plans of mice and men, things don’t work out as Bourdain hopes. When the fellowship is given to someone else, he goes into a tailspin, unsure of how to progress. On impulse he goes to Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he knows a young woman he’s enamored with, Nancy (Emilia Jones) will be spending the summer. When he crosses paths with her, he tells her, as he did his parents, that he’s there to do research and complete his magnum opus during his stay.
And while he’s given no thought as to where he will live or how he’ll support himself, fate plays a hand when he walks into a restaurant called “The Flagship.” He proceeds to get drunk, insult a waitress and get thrown out on his ear. However, the owner, Chef (Antonio Banderas) takes pity on him and gives him a job washing dishes. t’s here that Bourdain’s passion for the culinary arts is born.
While the Bourdain we see here is deplorable, that we can see through his lies and know he’s headed toward a well-deserved day of reckoning makes him just sympathetic enough to hold our interest. Sessa, who impressed in his first film, The Holdovers, continues to be an actor who commands our attention. There’s a desperate yearning for acceptance in his eyes that gives us an avenue to the lost, immature boy hiding behind the bravado he conveys a bit too earnestly. That you don’t lose interest in Bourdain, despite his boorish behavior, is a tribute to Sessa’s fine work.
The supporting cast is fantastic as well, led by Banderas who brings a quiet gravitas to the mentor role of Chef. Deliberate in his actions and speech, the actor subtly conveys that his character is shouldering a weight born from disappointment and regret. While his experiences inform who he is and will eventually guide Bourdain down the right path, the melancholy Banderas stoically expresses makes him the most human and sympathetic of characters.
He’s countered by Leo Woodall as Sal, the impulsive oyster shucker in Chef’s kitchen, a budding sociopath who tempts Bourdain throughout. Portraying the character as if he were a jostling glass of nitroglycerin, the actor’s edgy approach brings a nervous energy to the film, a sense of the unexpected whenever he’s on screen. Woodall’s charm is effectively subverted by the mischievous gleam in his eye that reveals Sal’s true volatile nature.
Though not given enough screen time, Jones makes the most of her moments, her Nancy a force to be reckoned with. Outspoken, she gives as good as she gets, the actress bringing a degree of sass and strength to the role that makes us understand why Bourdain would go to such lengths to be with her.
Not being an expert on Bourdain, I cannot say how much of this is truth and how much is fiction. While its subject comes off as a lout, he’s at least a relatable one, which leads me to believe with Tony, the legend is what’s been printed. In the end, it doesn’t matter as the lessons contained in this coming-of-age movie are universal – you need to go out and taste the world before you know what you want from it. In Theaters.
Menace lurks beneath Buddy’s surface
Cognitive disillusionment and toxic positivity, as well as a deep-seated hatred for Barney the Dinosaur and similar characters are at the core of Casper Kelly’s Buddy. Effectively combining social commentary, dark humor and graphic violence, I’d be hard-pressed to think of a recent film that kept me on my toes like this one. The subversive screenplay by Jamie King and Kelly shifts effortlessly from one distinct “reality” to another, the rules of the narrative changing with them, resulting in a movie that keeps viewers on their heels.
Things get off to a shaky start as Kelly takes far too long setting up the premise. Grainy video footage splashes across a screen cropped to resemble a TV screen, as an episode of the kid’s program Buddy begins. The titular character (voice by Keegan-Michael Key) is a unicorn from a magical land who appears when his name is spoken. With cheery songs and an overtly saccharine demeanor, the orange, one-horned beast, along with four child co-stars, teach viewers basic lessons of kindness and confidence.
However, when one of them, Josh (Luke Speakman) goes missing, Freddy (Delaney Quinn) begins to notice something sinister lurking beneath Buddy’s surface. Her worst fears are confirmed when she sees him strangling Nurse Nancy (Phuong Kubacki) and disposing of her body. Not wanting to share her fate, Freddy, Oliver (Tristan Borders), Hannah (Madison Skyy Polan) and Wade (Caleb Williams) attempt to escape from the show, which winds up being more difficult than anticipated.
Meanwhile, somewhere in suburbia, Grace (Cristin Milioti) is dealing with a crisis of her own. The mother of two boys, she suddenly gets an unshakable feeling that she’s the mother of a third child. Whether this is true or not, and if so, where this kid might be, are questions she cannot answer. However, deep within, she knows something is missing, a belief that doesn’t sit well with her husband (Topher Grace).
How these two stories intersect is just one of many inventive twists up Kelly’s sleeve. Before all is said and done, the film takes a hard left into the surreal and never truly abandons that sensibility. Up is down, right is left and logic has taken a hiatus as Buddy continues to search for the runaway kids while Grace is affected in ways I cannot reveal.
Buddy proves successful in his quest and the movie’s violence, though stylized, is at times excessive. Though not gratuitous, its shock factor is drawn from the fact it occurs within a world created for the innocent. Seeing the Pee Wee’s Playhouse-inspired sets and characters splattered with gore and hacked up by an orange unicorn is not only bracing put darkly humorous as well.
This approach dominates the last half of this brisk film, its violence and incongruous nature escalating as we go. Kelly and King’s intent seems to be twofold. The insincere nature of the declarations espousing the virtues of sound moral behavior repeatedly point out the problems of toxic positivity. But the sequences in which Freddy and her friends come to the realization that appearances can be deceiving, adults cannot be trusted and that the world can be a cruel place is where the movie draws its power. This is a coming-of-age tale that revels in the harshness it portrays, ripping to shreds the childhood fantasies so many youth-oriented shows are based on.
A story the Brothers Grimm would be proud to call their own, Buddy gleefully exposes its deluded young characters to the thorny world of adulthood. Though some may object to the movie’s graphic approach, it could be argued that harsh times dictate harsh tactics. In Theaters.
This article appears in August 27-September 2, 2026.
