Title – Anaconda (2025)

Director – Tom Gormican (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent)

Cast – Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Steve Zahn, Thandiwe Newton, Daniela Melchior, Selton Mello

Plot – Best friends Doug (Black) and Ronald (Rudd) set off on an adventure of a lifetime to film a remake of Anaconda but their trip to the jungle quickly turns into a real-life nightmare when they are joined by an unwanted guest.  

“Welcome to Hollywood, cupcake!”

Review by Eddie on 29/04/2026

If there was a film that was crying out desperately for a remake/reimagining, I’m fairly sure 1997’s Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez starring Anaconda wasn’t one of them.

Proving once more that in Hollywood common sense isn’t all that common, director Tom Gormican and a star-studded cast that includes leads Jack Black and Paul Rudd (very much playing iterations of themselves and sleepwalking through proceedings here) have delivered one of the most bizarre name brand reboots in recent memory as they venture to the Amazonian jungle to shot a low-budget update on the Anaconda brand.

With initially murky details on what Gormican’s take on Anaconda was going to be, with questions around whether it was a straight up remake or something more meta, the finished product is very much a tongue in cheek “comedy” that takes a long time to get going, with its fast-paced and more enjoyable final act not able to make up for a lot of wasted time and blandness that has come before it.

Trudging along as we are introduced to long-term friends and film fanatics Doug and Ronald, who decide to cure a mid-life crisis by heading into snake-filled territory with friends Kenny (an underused Steve Zahn) and Claire (a playing against type Thandiwe Newton), Anaconda doesn’t make a great first impression and there’s a lot of filler going on across its first 45 minutes to an hour as it struggles to really come to grips with its identity and flow.

It’s hard to really know what Gormican was trying to achieve here, spoofing a recognised bad movie like Anaconda maybe forms the basis of what could be a comedy riot but his take on the brand never really justifies its existence and considering the pairing up of known comedic entities like Black and Rudd, you’d expect the film to provide more in the laughs stakes, especially as the horror and set-piece elements of the film aren’t worthy of much note.

With the two leads on full auto-pilot mode, there’s small joys to be found in a couple of the films cameo turns and the supporting work of snake wrangler Santiago, played by I’m Still Here star Selton Mello but overall, the film feels like it’s not made for anyone in particular with old time Anaconda fans likely left disappointed by this new-age iteration and new series watchers left cold by a film that never gets out of first gear to showcase why it was developed in the first place.

Final Say –

There will be worse films you watch this year, but Anaconda is easily one of the more pointless and listless features you will watch and one that criminally underutilises its loaded cast on material devoid of anything of note.

2 boat propellers out of 5