No, it's not well-made, as such. And perhaps its greatest virtue is purely negative: contrary to what you would conclude from the fact that it was released in 2001 and concerns a man who has been given powerful "animal" instincts, it DOESN'T rely - not even once, so far as I can recall - on gross-out tactics. (The closest we come is when Marvin takes out a package of raw mincemeat and eats it when he thinks nobody's looking. Really, that's the closest we come.) It's NOT nasty, it's NOT unpleasant. And to move on to positive virtues: it's actually funny. Yes, I was as surprised as anyone else.
The writers are often content to stand back and let the premise do the work, but at least the premise and the fairly obvious situations that follow from it are inherently amusing. A man humping a goat isn't funny; a man fighting his urge to hump a goat because he knows it will be frowned upon, is ... actually, this particular part of the movie isn't THAT funny, but other parts are, and it's because the principle is the same throughout. When the animal humour wears thin there's often a good unrelated gag to supplement it. "That's good badger milk," says Marvin, as though badger milk were like wine and he wasn't certain what kind he was going to get. "Don't be ashamed, son," says the police chief. "I'VE eaten out of the garbage, too..." (Not THE greatest line, I'll admit, but Ed Asner gets points for delivering it in an inspired way.) And there's the guy who asks a series of questions that reveal the shy delight and eagerness he feels to be part of a mob.
I didn't know, before reading other people's comments, that Colleen Haskell was a star of one of those schlocky reality TV shows and that this was her first acting role; people who DID know this, it seemed, noticed all manner of deficiencies in her performance that simply weren't there. Haskell plays the cute chick who ends up falling for the hero. The ROLE is limited. I honestly don't see how Haskell could have played it any better than she did. (In fact, more experienced actresses usually get it wrong, and Haskell doesn't.) And at least she, unlike most actresses called upon to play this kind of role, really is gorgeous.
The writers are often content to stand back and let the premise do the work, but at least the premise and the fairly obvious situations that follow from it are inherently amusing. A man humping a goat isn't funny; a man fighting his urge to hump a goat because he knows it will be frowned upon, is ... actually, this particular part of the movie isn't THAT funny, but other parts are, and it's because the principle is the same throughout. When the animal humour wears thin there's often a good unrelated gag to supplement it. "That's good badger milk," says Marvin, as though badger milk were like wine and he wasn't certain what kind he was going to get. "Don't be ashamed, son," says the police chief. "I'VE eaten out of the garbage, too..." (Not THE greatest line, I'll admit, but Ed Asner gets points for delivering it in an inspired way.) And there's the guy who asks a series of questions that reveal the shy delight and eagerness he feels to be part of a mob.
I didn't know, before reading other people's comments, that Colleen Haskell was a star of one of those schlocky reality TV shows and that this was her first acting role; people who DID know this, it seemed, noticed all manner of deficiencies in her performance that simply weren't there. Haskell plays the cute chick who ends up falling for the hero. The ROLE is limited. I honestly don't see how Haskell could have played it any better than she did. (In fact, more experienced actresses usually get it wrong, and Haskell doesn't.) And at least she, unlike most actresses called upon to play this kind of role, really is gorgeous.