‘Nobody 2’ Asks Us How Much We Would Like to See Bob Odenkirk Clean Up the Bad Guys

August 14, 2025

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A bunch of Nobodys (CREDIT: Allen Fraser/Universal Pictures)

Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, John Ortiz, Colin Hanks, RZA, Christopher Lloyd, Sharon Stone, Colin Salmon, Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath

Director: Timo Tjahjanto

Running Time: 89 Minutes

Rating: R for Strong Bloody Violence and Strong Bloody Language

Release Date: August 15, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) used to be one of these seemingly normal suburban dads that everybody thought was basically a nobody. But word has spread that this nobody is not to be messed with. Unfortunately, his newfound predilection for cracking skulls has been putting a strain on his family. So he decides that he simply must take a break from paying off his debt and go on a vacation with his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) and their kids Brady (Gage Munroe) and Sammy (Paisley Cadorath). They make their way to a water park in the tourist town of Plummerville, since that’s the only place that Hutch’s dad (Christopher Lloyd) ever took him on vacation. Unfortunately, it’s not as idyllic as he remembers it. Instead, the theme park operator (John Ortiz) and the town sheriff are in the pocket of a deranged criminal boss (Sharon Stone) who’s running the evilest bootlegging operation in any vacationland. So yeah, not exactly a formula for Hutch to keep his fists tucked away.

What Made an Impression?: That’s Too Much, Man: The trope of the Unlikely AARP-Eligible Action Hero is old hat by now. Honestly, it was already a bit of a cliché by the time that the first Nobody came out. Is the casting choice of Odenkirk as this particular sixtysomething with a particular set of skills enough to overcome that familiarity? Theoretically, it could be. But what he’s asked to do here is just so bloody and so vindictive and so relentless that it doesn’t really matter how likable he is. At one point, some thug callously smacks Hutch’s daughter on the back of her head, so I understand where he’s coming from when he goes ballistic. But at a certain point, I’m sure that his soul must be dying; alas, this movie isn’t terribly interested in having him reckon with that beyond the surface level.
Could It Be… Satan?: There’s good reason to believe that Sharon Stone’s crime boss character is a resident of the underworld in disguise as a human being. As far as I can tell, she’s motivated entirely by money, which is famously the root of all evil. So the fact that she’s behind everything kind of justifies Hutch’s actions, which makes Nobody 2 less off-putting than it could have been otherwise. But this isn’t exactly the most refreshing form of cinematic evil we’ve ever encountered. Stone’s certainly giving it her all, but in terms of showing off the personality of her baddest self, she’s not asked to do much more than drop a bunch of f-bombs.
More Than Nothing: Overall, I must admit that I wasn’t exactly thrilled by Nobody 2. But there was one part (or actually a couple) that had my toes happy-tapping. As the Mansell family is driving down to Plummerville, they sing along to “More Today Than Yesterday,” Spiral Starecase’s classic sunshine pop hit from 1969, which is reprised at the beginning of the end credits. Why do I mention this? Because it had me saying “I must now sing this song at karaoke.” Ergo, this was not an entirely fruitless experience.

Nobody 2 is Recommended If You Like: All of the action mayhem without any of the morality

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Hawaiian Shirts

‘Jumanji: The Next Level’ is Worth It Mostly for the Actor-Persona Swapping

December 10, 2019

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CREDIT: Frank Masi/Sony Pictures Entertainment

Starring: Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson, Ser’Darius Blain, Madison Iseman, Morgan Turner, Alex Wolff, Danny DeVito, Danny Glover, Nick Jonas, Awkwafina, Colin Hanks, Rhys Darby, Rory McCann, Marin Hinkle

Director: Jake Kadan

Running Time: 123 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Intense CGI Animal Attacks

Release Date: December 13, 2019

Let’s be real: the biggest joy of 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle wasn’t the game itself, but how it was played. I’m talking about the actors who played the video game avatars and how the conceit demanded that they depart so far from their typical personas. Dwayne Johnson had to act like a scrawny kid with allergies, Kevin Hart got to wonder why he wasn’t a foot taller, Karen Gillan was allowed to question the wisdom of midriff-baring in action scenarios, and Jack Black fulfilled his destiny by getting to play a superficial teenage girl. So if The Next Level, the third movie in this series (although let’s be real: this feels like the second movie, since the actual first movie is so far removed from these latter two, though I’ll do my best to call it the third. Also, side note: there’s a cameo of someone from the original film, but I didn’t even remember that she was in the original, so take from that what you will) wants to succeed, it ought to double down on that performance-with-a-performance framework, right? Definitely, although there’s also a hullabaloo about a plot and some frenetic action set pieces.

The Next Level, naturally enough, is about the next level in the video game, so it’s a little harder now for the gamers to successfully complete their mission of saving Jumanji. For us, that means a lot of the film is like watching someone else playing a video game, which can be enjoyable, but it usually doesn’t deliver the transcendence that cinema is designed to achieve. Maybe some viewers will really dig all this flying through the air and slamming into the scenery, but for me, it feels like an exhausting visual onslaught. Although, I must admit that the CGI-rendered ostriches and mandrills do look genuinely scary.

But back to the main attraction, as it behooves me to mention that Dannys DeVito and Glover have joined the Jumanji gang, and they have major parts, even when we don’t get to see their familiar faces. Glover plays Milo, former business partner to DeVito’s Eddie, grandfather to Spencer (Alex Wolff), whose lingering insecurity about life in general has led him to venture back into the game. His friends follow behind to rescue him, but since everything is a little haywire, Milo and Eddie are dragged in as well, and nobody gets to choose their avatars, though they also get some opportunities to switch around who’s playing whom. In Welcome to the Jungle, the young actors were not too well-known, so the actors playing the video game characters were playing types more than they were doing impressions. But now with the presence of some more familiar names, the routine gets to lean more toward impressions, which Hart, Johnson, and newcomer Awkwafina take full advantage of. Honestly, in this day and age of strife and division, the world would be a lot better if we all spent some time pretending to be Danny DeVito. So, in that sense, The Next Level is a net good.

Jumanji: The Next Level is Recommended If You Like: Watching other people play video games, Danny DeVito impressions, Danny Glover impressions

Grade: 3 out of 5 Life Bars