Welcome to The Jungle (2013) is a comedy movie that surprised me with how good it was. It definitely had no right to be as good as it ended up being. With an aging Jean Claude Van Dam playing what is essentially a caricature of himself, I went in expecting the worst. However, I was pleasantly entertained for 100-odd minutes, even if there is nothing too memorable about it.
The movie begins set in a sales company. Chris (Adam Brody) is presented as a bit of a weakling who has his ideas stolen and can't muster the courage up to ask a cute girl at the office out. But then a team-building activity has them camping with Jean Claude on a remote island happens, and no-one in the company is ever going to be the same again (da-da-dum).
Of course, things don't go as planned on this company getaway. Van Dam gets mauled and incapacitated by a tiger, they can't get off the island, and the office bully takes over the workplace as a god-king while everyone is sort-of high on some native plants. Chris, his best friend, his crush and his best friends wife (all of whom I promptly forgot the names of) have to take back control so that they can be rescued. What follows is Chris going through a pretty standard "heroic" journey. He learns to overcome his fear, stand up for himself and (of course) finds out the girl likes him.
There was nothing too memorable about this movie, but it did make me chuckle. Van Dam has some of the best lines as he hams up his part in the movie, and Chris played a believable dweeb. The storyline may be predictable and I roll my eyes in the girl being treated as a prize after Chris overcomes his fear, but it does make up for it for not taking itself too seriously. Especially when Van Dam finally performs his round kick.
3 out of 5 wilderness-hunting waffles
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