neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Snow Dogs
	Brian Levant Cuba Gooding Jr., James Coburn, Sisqo, Nichelle Nichols, Graham Greene, Joanna Bacalso, M. Emmet Walsh 2002		Dumb slapstick. Absurd, clunky plot. Unfunny comedy with the gall to try and be inspiring. What more do you need to know? The premise? Here's a stretch: A black dentist with a flourishing practice in sunny Miami Beach, Fla., learns that his real mother, a dogsled racer in Alaska, has died and left him a cabin in the Great White North, complete with champion dog team and sled. Plus, a local character — a crotchety old white guy named "Thunder" Jack who is also a dogsled racer — may actually be his father. It ain't long before the dentist is trying to "mush" his way across the tundra with his wily, balky pack of inherited dogs. Sidesplitting and stirring it ain't. To compound matters, the unwitting heir is played by the overly ebullient Cuba Gooding Jr., who never delivered a line he couldn't punch senseless. His comedic excesses work better in a well-directed, well-written film ("Jerry Maguire") or a more inventive laugh-ateria ("Rat Race"). Not this time. With James Coburn as "Thunder" Jack.