So the title 12 Monkeys appears on screen, followed by the opening credits. So far, so good, I thought. These monkeys are gonna be hysterical! Imagine my disappointment with the severe lack of monkeys in the opening scene. Where are all the monkeys? I thought. Don't worry. They're coming later, I assured myself. Bruce Willis stars as the lead character. He's not as funny as 12 whole monkeys, but whatever.
I have to say this movie starts off very slow. I was looking at the screen, but it was hard to pay attention to what was going on because I kept squinting, hoping to catch a glimpse of a monkey. No such luck. The next scene, and still no monkeys in sight. At this point I was getting a little frustrated. This is false advertising, I thought to myself. For a movie called 12 Monkeys, there are surprisingly few moneys. After about the tenth monkeyless scene, I was ready to give up.
Then I was caught off guard by a particular scene where Bruce Willis is coughing up blood. I get it now, I thought. Bruce Willis must have eaten all the monkeys and now he's sick! That's actually pretty damn funny. I roared with laughter and shouted, "You shouldn't have eaten that 12th monkey! I mean, come on, Brucey Boy! Leave a little room for dessert!" No one in the room seemed to share my enthusiasm.
I can't remember the rest of the movie too well from that point because honestly I had the giggles the entire time thinking about Bruce Willis eating 12 whole monkeys. That's a tough scene to follow for sure. I thought that maybe it would show inside Bruce Willis' belly to reveal all 12 monkeys cartwheeling around and having a grand old time, but I knew not to get my hopes up.
In closing, 12 Monkeys, while not at all what I expected, is a timeless comedy that's sure to turn that frown upside down. If you can power through the tedious parts it's an absolute delight. I would give this movie a perfect score if not for the fact that it should have had at least 1 monkey make an appearance somewhere in the movie.
4.75 out of 5.
