Annie (2014)

Annie is a 2014 American musical comedy-drama film directed by Will Gluck from a screenplay he co-wrote with Aline Brosh McKenna. Produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, Overbrook Entertainment, Marcy Media Films, and Olive Bridge Entertainment, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is a contemporary film adaptation of Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin, and Thomas Meehan's 1977 Broadway musical of the same name (which in turn is based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray). The film changes the setting from the Great Depression to the present day, and it is the second remake and the third film adaptation of the musical, following the 1982 theatrical film starring Carol Burnett and Albert Finney and the 1999 television film starring Kathy Bates and Victor Garber. The revival film stars Quvenzhané Wallis in the title role, alongside Jamie Foxx, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale and Cameron Diaz. Annie began production in August 2013 and, following a premiere at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on December 7, 2014, it was released theatrically in the United States on December 19.
The film received generally negative reviews; the Rotten Tomatoes consensus say it "smothers its likable cast under clichés, cloying cuteness, and a distasteful materialism". It grossed $133.8 million against a budget of between $65–78 million. Annie received two Golden Globe Award nominations in the categories of Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical (for Wallis) and Best Original Song. Conversely, the film received two Golden Raspberry nominations and won in the category of Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel while Diaz was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. It was followed by a fourth adaptation of the musical that was a live NBC production.
== Plot ==
In Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, ten-year-old Annie Bennett lives in a foster home alongside several other girls under the care of a bitter former member of C+C Music Factory, Colleen Hannigan, who spends her days drinking, trying to snag a sweetheart, and giving various, grueling chores to the orphaned children in her care. Every Friday, Annie waits outside a restaurant, Domani's, believing her parents will arrive there for her, as a message written on a Domani's receipt promised that they would do so. When a city inspector comes to check Miss Hannigan's treatment of the kids, Annie decides to take advantage of this opportunity; she manages to copy her social security number from the inspector's clipboard and heads off, hoping to find out more about herself. Unfortunately, Annie receives what she already knows.
While trying to protect a Shiba Inu from a group of bullies, Annie is nearly run over by a car but is saved by Will Stacks, a germaphobic cellphone mogul running for Mayor of New York City. The incident is caught on camera and soon goes viral on the internet, boosting Stacks popularity; per the suggestion of his campaign manager, Guy Danlily, Annie moves in with Stacks to continue his popularity boost, who enjoys everything. She befriends Stacks' assistant, Grace Farrell. Annie also gets to adopt the stray dog from before, naming her Sandy. Bonding with Annie, Stacks reveals that he had humble beginnings in Queens; he never really knew his father because he worked so much, but believed he could understand him if he worked just as hard. Annie also helps Grace and Stacks realize that they like each other romantically.
At Annie's request, Stacks takes her and her friends to see the premiere of MoonQuake Lake. Stacks is uninterested at first, but soon becomes a major fan along with Grace. To Annie and Grace's insistence, he joins the premiere party. After returning her friends home, Annie shows Grace her Friday routine of waiting outside Domani's to see if her parents will return; Grace sympathizes, agreeing to keep this a secret from Stacks. At Miss Hannigan's, the girls accidentally wake her; Miss Hannigan snaps at them, saying the rich are selfish and will ditch anyone they don't care about anymore, recalling her past. Slightly hung over, she laments about her situation of foster kids and her desire to reclaim stardom.
Annie is invited to a charity event, where she speaks about how grateful she is for all the opportunities she's been given. When she is asked to read a speech, Annie runs off and reveals that, despite attending school, she does not know how to read. With Miss Hannigan, Guy plans to have a pair of impostors claim Annie is their daughter to boost Stacks' popularity to the point where he wins the election; Guy would then share his payment of the reward with Miss Hannigan. However, Guy doesn't care about Annie's well-being, planning to put her back into foster care after the election and cutting Miss Hannigan out of the deal.
By the time Miss Hannigan has a change of heart, Annie has already been kidnapped by the imposters. Miss Hannigan tells Stacks about Guy's role in the scheme, and Stacks fires him. Stacks, Grace, Miss Hannigan, Lou and the girls board Stacks' helicopter; aided by the police, they chase the getaway car into the park. The kidnappers believe that Stacks paid them to kidnap Annie rather than Guy, so Annie gets upset and chastises Stacks, thinking he set up the kidnapping and rescue. To prove his innocence, Stacks announces to the press his withdrawal from the mayoral race, after which Annie helps Grace and Stacks admit their love for each other. All three dance and sing happily as they are streamed onto television.
Annie announces the opening of the "Stacks Literacy Centre," to help children like herself who cannot read. Everyone then sings Annie's "Tomorrow" and Stacks adopts Pepper, Tessie, Mia, as well as Sandy. Humorously, Miss Hannigan attempts to continue singing even after the song is finished, receiving stares that cue her to stop.
== Cast ==
* Jamie Foxx as Will Stacks
* Quvenzhané Wallis as Annie
* Rose Byrne as Grace Farrell
* Cameron Diaz as Miss Colleen Hannigan
* Bobby Cannavale as Guy
* Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Nash
* David Zayas as Lou
* Stephanie Kurtzuba as Mrs. Kovacevic
* Amanda Troya as Pepper
* Eden Duncan-Smith as Isabella
* Zoe Margaret Colletti as Tessie
* Nicolette Pierini as Mia
* Marti as Sandy
=== Cameos ===
* Patricia Clarkson as Focus Group Woman
* Michael J. Fox as himself
* Mila Kunis as Andrea Alvin, the lead actress in MoonQuake Lake
* Ashton Kutcher as Simon Goodspeed, the lead actor in MoonQuake Lake
* Bobby Moynihan as Guy in Bar
* Rihanna as Moon Goddess, a supporting character in MoonQuake Lake
* Scarlett Benchley as Sakana, a supporting character in MoonQuake Lake
* Sia as Animal Care & Control Volunteer
* Rachel Crowther as a Street Dancer
* Degenerocity as kid in theater
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's names appear in the end credits of MoonQuake Lake, a fictional film within the film; the scenes were actually directed by Lord and Miller.[citation needed] Taylor Richardson, who played the title role in the 2012 Broadway revival of the musical, appears in the beginning of the film as one of Annie's classmates, also named "Annie".[citation needed] Dorian Missick and Tracie Thoms portray Annie's fake parents who were hired by Guy.
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
Annie opened on December 19, 2014, and earned $5.3 million on its opening day. In the first weekend, the film made $15.9 million and ranked third in the North American box office behind other new releases The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. The film grossed $85.9 million in North America and $47.9 million overseas for a worldwide total of $133.8 million.
=== Critical response ===
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 28% based on 163 critic reviews, and an average rating of 4.48/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The new-look Annie hints at a progressive take on a well-worn story, but smothers its likable cast under clichés, cloying cuteness, and a distasteful materialism." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 33 out of 100 based on 38 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.
PopMatters magazine rated Annie with a three out of ten, saying, "In its aggravatingly choreographed frenzy, the party scene epitomizes Annie: it's trying too hard both to be and not be the previous Annies, it's trying too little to be innovative or vaguely inspired. It's as crass as Miss Hannigan and as greedy as Stacks, at least until they learn their lessons. The movie doesn't appear to learn a thing." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave Annie one-and-a-half stars, describing the adaptation as being "wobbly" and "unsatisfying", criticizing the commercialized nature of the plot changes, concluding that it was "finesse-free and perilously low on the simple performance pleasures we look for in any musical, of any period." Ben Sachs of the Chicago Reader gave the film three out of four stars, praising the "surprising amount of bite: the filmmakers openly acknowledge the similarities between the Great Depression and the present, and the populist message, however overstated, always registers as sincere." Sachs also praised director Will Gluck for "striking a buoyant tone that feels closer to classic Hollywood musicals than contemporary kiddie fare."
The soundtrack, rearranged by Sia Furler and Greg Kurstin, received a polarizing response from critics, with much criticism going towards the heavy use of auto-tune. Entertainment Weekly described its soundtrack as an auto-tuned "disaster," noting that "you won't ever hear a worse rendition of 'Easy Street' than the one performed by Diaz and Cannivale — I promise." David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter says "all but a handful of the existing songs have been shredded, often retaining just a signature line or two and drowning it in desperately hip polyrhythmic sounds, aurally assaultive arrangements and inane new lyrics." Matt Zoller Seitz however, praised the soundtrack's new songs.
The performances were more positively received by some critics. IGN.com praised Wallis and Foxx for being "on-point" throughout much of the film, as well as Rose Byrne, calling her the "surprise" of the film. Matt Zoller Seitz called Wallis "the first Annie to bring something both culturally and personally new to this role," and praised the rest of the cast too, including Foxx and Byrne. Cameron Diaz's performance received polarized reviews, with critics praising her effort, but ultimately calling it too "vampy," as well as "strident and obnoxious." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone says that she "overacts the role to the point of hysteria."
Category:Musical films
Category:Children's films
Category:2014 films
Category:2014
Category:2014 in film
Category:Films
Category:Columbia Pictures films
Category:Films distributed by Columbia Pictures