I thought my wife should consider seeing the movie Coyote v. Acme after we played the July 6 edition of the New York Times Connections. The blue category was Acme Products Used by Wile E. Coyote; she had no idea.
On the other hand, it was the first category I identified. I saw a LOT of Road Runner cartoons growing up, usually on a variant of The Bugs Bunny Show on Saturday mornings. It wasn’t my favorite segment, as I thought it was a tad repetitive.
Yet the idea of the movie – “After enduring years of malfunctioning products, Wile E. Coyote teams up with a local personal injury attorney to take on ACME, the manufacturer of anything and everything used by the Looney Tunes characters” – seemed rich with possibility.
So I was mildly peeved that Warner Brothers intended to shelve the completed film in late 2023 to get a tax write-off. Other people were more vocal, and the public outrage prompted the filmmakers to look for another distributor.
What’s in a law firm name?
The film’s appeal started early for me. In 2022, Wile E. Coyote saw a TV ad for “Avery, Jones & Maltese, a personal injury law firm in Albuquerque specializing in cartoon violence cases involving Acme products.” The firm was named for Tex Avery, “crucial in the creation and evolution of famous animated characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd,” and Chuck Jones, who “wrote, produced, and/or directed many classic animated cartoon shorts starring Bugs, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner,” and others.
The third name refers to the late actor Peter Lorre. In the movie, “in 1992, in a world where cartoon characters co-exist amongst humans, Acme Corporation scientist Dr. Lorre leaks a message to an unknown contact before being captured and imprisoned inside an Acme portable hole.” An animated version of Lorre appeared in several Warner Brothers cartoons. Maltese refers to Lorre’s 1941 film The Maltese Falcon, which I have not seen.
The law firm, headed by Kevin Avery (Will Forte), was used to settling for small sums. But at his client’s urging, he and his eager, budding lawyer niece, Paige (Lana Condor), take on the ACME juggernaut, represented by a cocky corporate lawyer, Buddy Crane (John Cena).
The cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn, the CEO of the Acme Corporation, reminds me of a current US Senator. I mean that in a non-complimentary way re: the senator, but it’s a fair description of the rooster.
“beep, beep” or “meep, meep”?
I liked the movie quite a bit; we saw it at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany at a Friday matinee. What interested me more was that my wife liked it a lot, as a David v. Goliath story, which seems very current. The pieces of the mystery came together with familiar characters like Elmer Fudd, Tweety, Granny, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, and, of course, the Road Runner, who played a pivotal and surprising role.
It received positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes: 96% from critics and 95% from audiences. The critics’ consensus: “A daffy satire that’s equal parts heart and wily humor.” Groan.
