Latest update of cartoon heroine from the Great Depression finds the irrepressible tween warming the heart a Telecom zillionaire (Jamie Foxx) and teaching life lessons to a depressed foster mother (Cameron Diaz) & a repressed workaholic (Rose Byrne).
Not bad, but not good either. The worst problem is that no one in the cast can really sing, so when pint-sized star Quvenzhané Wallis is supposed to thrill us with her big number “Tomorrow”… well… oops… (JLH: 3/5)
Directed by Will Gluck. 2014 screenplay by Gluck and Aline Brosh McKenna based on Harold Gray’s comic strip & Thomas Meehan’s book for the Broadway musical. Click HERE to read our FF2 Haiku. Not yet seen by Rich.
Top Photo: “Annie” (Quvenzhané Wallis) on the run.
Bottom Photo: Annie with her Foster Care sisters dancing around in the Bronx.
Photo Credits: Barry Wetcher
Q: Does Annie (2014) pass the Bechdel Test? 
Yes!
Despite the centrality of her role as a “stop and smell the roses” figure for Mr. Stacks (Jamie Foxx), Annie actually spends most of her time interacting with female characters, including Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz) and Grace (Rose Byrne).
And the best scene in the film is a giddy rendition of “It’s a Hard Knock Life” sung by Annie and her four foster sisters (most of whom actually can sing) while doing a massive clean-up of Miss Hannigan’s scuzzy walk-up in the Bronx.
