''Funky Monkey'' is a 2004 family

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

film starring Matthew Modine, Seth Adkins and Roma Downey. It is written by Lance Kinsey and Peter Nelson. It is directed by Harry Basil. The plot centers around boy genius, Michael Dean (Adkins), who teams up with a super-talented

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...

and his caretaker (Modine) to take down an animal testing lab.

Plot

The story is about Alec McCall ( Matthew Modine), a spy, who teams up with Clements, a chimp, to save the day. He has a change of heart when his boss, Flick, turns out to be bad and wants to perform experiments on the chimp. These experiments are to create chimp soldiers for the highest bidder. McCall takes Clements away on the run to his hometown, where they meet a 13-year-old genius boy named Michael ( Seth Adkins). Michael wants to impress a girl by playing on the football team. The coach (

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American retired actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank ...

) allows him on the team only if he tutors the star players who are on the brink of being kicked off due to bad grades. Meanwhile, Flick sends his goons out to find the chimp. Michael's single mom, Megan ( Roma Downey), a computer programmer, has her eye on McCall, who rents out a room from her. She does not know about Clements, but Michael does. After the goons fail to get the chimp, Flick goes to get Clements himself by breaking in and gassing Clements and Michael. Flick takes them back to his headquarters so the doctor (

Gilbert Gottfried Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried (February 28, 1955 – April 12, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian and actor, best-known for his exaggerated shrill voice, strong New York dialect, his squint, and his edgy, often-controversial, sense of humor. Hi ...

) can perform his experiments. McCall rescues them and they head back for the Homecoming football game. Soon the bad guys show up and dress as football players to play in the game and get Clements. Clements and McCall join the team to stop Flick from winning. Michael wins the game, and Flick and his henchmen are arrested for animal cruelty.

Cast

Production

In December 2001, Development of the film was first announced with ApolloMedia stating their intention to produce ''Karate Chimps'', a $25 million family-oriented action comedy about a simian trained in the martial arts which Gene Quintano would write and direct. An alternate titled considered while the film was in production was ''A Hairy Tale''.

Release

''Funky Monkey'' was released straight-to-video.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Funky Monkey (Film) 2004 films 2004 direct-to-video films Warner Bros. films Franchise Pictures films Fictional chimpanzees Films about apes Films shot in San Diego Films with screenplays by Gene Quintano Films directed by Harry Basil 2000s English-language films