The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) Warner Bros./Comedy-Sci-Fi-Action RT: 95 minutes Rated PG-13 (violence, sexual humor, language) Director: Ron Underwood Screenplay: Neil Cuthbert Music: John Powell Cinematography: Oliver Wood Release date: August 16, 2002 (US) Cast: Eddie Murphy, Randy Quaid, Rosario Dawson, Joe Pantoliano, Jay Mohr, Luis Guzman, James Rebhorn, Peter Boyle, Burt Young, Miguel A. Nunez Jr., Pam Grier, John Cleese, Victor Varnado, Illeana Douglas, Jacynthe Rene, Lilo Brancato, Alissa Kramer, Heidi Kramer, Alec Baldwin (uncredited). Box Office: $4.4M (US)/$7.1M (World)
Rating: ** ½
Everything about the $100 million sci-fi-comedy The Adventures of Pluto Nash screamed “STINKER!” It had been in development since the mid-80s. It had a troubled production history marked by star Eddie Murphy’s difficult on-set behavior. It underwent an inordinate amount of post-production tinkering. It sat on the shelf for more than a year before seeing the inside of movie theaters. The studio declined to hold ANY pre-release screenings. Eddie and the rest of the cast refused to promote it. It went on to become one of the biggest box office bombs in the history of American cinema making only $4.4 million against a $100 million budget and an additional $20 million in marketing costs. You want to know the funny part? It’s really not all that bad.
Let’s get something straight right off the bat. The Adventures of Pluto Nash isn’t funny. Let me rephrase that. It’s about as funny as a mash-up of Ishtar and Town & Country. Every joke lands with a thud that can be heard in space. When I did laugh, I did so ironically. I couldn’t believe the cinematic train wreck I was witnessing. I felt that way when I saw it at the movies in ‘02 and again when I rewatched it this past weekend. On that level, I enjoyed The Adventures of Pluto Nash…. sort of.
It opens in the year 2080 when ex-smuggler Pluto Nash (Murphy) buys a failing nightclub in order to save his friend, Polish crooner Anthony Frankowski (Mohr, Jerry Maguire), from having acid poured down his throat by mobsters for falling behind on his loan payments. Why he opts to wear a Scottish kilt on stage, I don’t know. Seven years later, Club Pluto is the most popular club in the lunar colony of Little America. One night, a couple of thugs working for notorious mob boss Rex Crater show up offering to buy the club for $10 million. He turns them down flat. They retaliate by blowing the joint to smithereens.
Knowing they’ll be coming for him next, Pluto goes on the run with his robot/best friend Bruno (Quaid, Christmas Vacation) and new server Dina Lake (Dawson, Josie and the Pussycats), a singer stranded on the Moon after a gig at another club fell through. Pluto decides the best thing to do is track down and confront the never-seen Crater at his casino/hotel in Moon Beach. Notice that I haven’t credited any actor as “Rex Crater”? Why, you ask? Let’s put it this way. At one point, Crater is linked to illegal human cloning. Starting to get the picture? Good, let’s move on.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say The Adventures of Pluto Nash is the best of the crummy movies Murphy starred in around that time- i.e. Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Dr. Dolittle 2, Showtime and I Spy. Shrek doesn’t count because he only lent his voice. But let’s be clear, it’s only the best because of its way-out premise. It takes place in a futuristic world where currency bears the likeness of Hillary Clinton and Trump owns real estate on the lunar surface. What The Adventures of Pluto Nash lacks in humor, it makes up for in weirdness. It’s not funny, it’s bizarre! How bizarre? Look no further than Quaid’s robotic character. He always has this goofy look on his face that says he’s either overly happy or planning to tear apart every human in sight at any moment. Incidentally, he does the latter to an overly friendly talking female slot machine. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear everybody involved with The Adventures of Pluto Nash was on cocaine. An idea like this can only come from long-term drug use. It’s freaking out there!
What’s really crazy about The Adventures of Pluto Nash is the roster of actors director Ron Underwood (City Slickers) somehow managed to hire. How did he convince them to appear in a movie clearly destined to fail? For Murphy, it was obvious a cash-grab. You can tell by the way he phones in his performance(s). He doesn’t even try anymore yet he’s still very much at the center of the action. His ego is roughly the size of Mount Rushmore by now, maybe bigger. Mohr is okay as the no-talent singer who becomes the famous Italian crooner Tony Francis after heeding Pluto’s career advice. His real-life inspiration is obvious based on songs like “Fly Me to the Moon” and “My Kind of Town (Moon Beach Is)”.
The supporting cast includes some pretty big names. Over the course of 95 minutes, you’ll see Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix), Luis Guzman (Boogie Nights), Pam Grier (Jackie Brown), James Rebhorn (Independence Day), Peter Boyle (Young Frankenstein), Burt Young (Rocky I-VI), Miguel A. Nunez Jr. (Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning), John Cleese (A Fish Called Wanda), Illeana Douglas (To Die For) and an uncredited Alec Baldwin (The Hunt for Red October).
The Adventures of Pluto Nash is what you’d call a hot mess. The plot is convoluted and the actors run around like chickens with their heads cut off. For a movie that cost upwards of $100 mil, the special effects look awful cheap. The production design is cool though. It’s like a mix of Total Recall and the campy Flash Gordon. The rest of the movie is an unqualified disaster. That’s what I like about it. It’s the same reason I enjoy watching 1941, Howard the Duck and Hudson Hawk. The makers dumped so much money into them; it’s almost a shame to let them go unenjoyed. I admit it, I have a perverse fascination with big-budget flops. What the majority of the moviegoing public hates about them, I love. Frankly, I’d rather watch The Adventures of Pluto Nash than some of the Best Picture winners of the past 25 years. The snobby elitists can keep The English Patient, The Hurt Locker and Birdman. Please don’t hold that against me.
