A Brief Interlude...

...Let me just quickly interrupt my top ten film list here...

Over the Hedge- Dreamworks' CG animation offerings are formulaic to the point of tedium. They seem to have one story template that they use over and over again. Here's the template: Disparate group of anthromorphic beings go to a unique environment where their unity as a group is tested. During this ordeal, there will be a montage of the creatures either A) wandering sadly through the environment while a current MOR top 40 band plays a subdued melody, or B) working together to achieve a common goal while a current MOR Top 40 band plays an upbeat melody. The group will always have a 'sassy', urban-type female, and a hyper-ADD afflicted 'Nerdy' character. Two-thirds into the movie, the lead character will monologue about how his doubt or his hubris has let the other members of the group down. His confidence will be restored by another monologue by his love interest or best friend. The final message is always, "Friends and Family are the most important thing, ever." At least half the voices of the main characters will be by A-level movie stars, which simultaneously proves that Dreamworks hasn't got much confidence in these movies in the first place, and that Bruce Willis, Woody Allen, Cameron Diaz and Will Smith's voice-over work tend to flatten out their performances.

Over the Hedge continues that bland tradition. A group of disparate woodland creatures awake from hibernation to find their sylvan home is now smack dab in the middle of suburbia. A cocky raccoon, voiced by Bruce Willis, sells them on the easy pickin's in suburban garbage cans, thus assuaging their fears over a steady food supply. Turns out the raccoon is using the other creatures to gather food for him so he can pay back a mean bear (voiced by Nick Nolte) whose food supply the raccoon demolished. When the animals are captured by a psychotic exterminator and a monomanical home owner, the raccoon has a change of heart and rescues them, thus learning that "Friends and Family are yadda yadda."

I'm setting all this up because Over the Hedge has one gag which has to be the funniest thing that I've seen this year in a movie. The aforementioned ADD-Nerd character in this case is a squirrel named Hammy voiced by Steve Catrell in a standout performance. (Spoiler alert) During the movie, a minor running gag is that given his twitchy, nervous personality, caffeine-laden drinks would be the last thing Hammy should partake in from the bounty of food the animals are stealing. When the raccoon rescues the other animals from their capture by the exterminator, they are stuck in the hedge between their forest home and the aforementioned homeowners' lawn. On one side is the now-angered bear, and on the other side stands the exterminator and the homeowner, both parties intent on destroying the woodland creatures. The raccoon and the leader of the animals, a turtle voiced by Gerry Shandling, bemoan their fate and wish for more time to resolve their dilemma. (At that point, fireflies light up over their heads.) They give Hammy a full dose of hyper-caffeinated soda, and he saves the day.

What sends this gag over the moon is it's reversal of expectations. We expect to see a hyper-cut montage of the squirrel frantically running about, subduing the bear, the exterminator, and the homeowner in the space of a few seconds. What the movie gives us is a slow, leisurely display of Hammy's altered perceptions in his hyper-caffeinated state. Time stops while he casually trots to the semi-lethal animal trap on the owners' lawn, sets it off, non-chalantly sets up a cage trap next to the bad guys, and makes a detour to grab a cookie on top of the homeowners' house. ("Hm-mm...I gots a cookie") While Hammy is doing all this, the lasers on the lawn move at a snail's pace. (End spoilers)

I was laughing so hard, I almost passed out. (My diaphram still hurts.) The comic saint Michael O'Donoghue pointed out that great comedy jumps a step, and that's exactly what happens here. It's unfortunate the rest of the movie doesn't match up to that scene, but having my lowered expectations surpassed is part of why I was laughing so heavily.