Coyote vs. Acme

The best part of all is that “Coyote vs. Acme” is a superb piece of filmmaking, a loving tribute to the most hapless of all Looney Tunes characters and the many fans who love him.

Green’s film dramatizes all the awful things that were about to happen to itself, and the fact that it’s finally out — and that it was brilliant all along — is an ironically cheerful conclusion to a film about constant struggle.

Forte is a dopey joy as this shambolic legal counsel, incapable of pouring a glass of water without ineptly splashing it everywhere. He’s pitted against a perfect John Cena as Acme’s remorseless in-house lawyer. Cena’s scene with Tweety Bird, acting as a stool pigeon, is one of the absurd highlights. When Burch’s dialogue hits the spot, it’s like being tickled all over.

Forte is crucial here: his hangdog, faintly exhausted performance a counterbalance to the film’s dizzying vortex of lunacy. Forget world-building – blending live-action with animation, you instantly accept humans live alongside cartoons.

In the case of Hollywood’s wacky war on original ideas, we’re all lucky this one didn’t just accept “that’s all, folks!” as a fate, instead of taking it for the kind of challenge only the wiliest of characters could win.

The fact that the film is not only good enough to make WB’s decision to shelve it look cowardly and anti-art, but has only gained emotional resonance because of how that drama ties into its own story, is cause for celebration, no matter how much it makes at the box office.

Despite replicating the Looney Tunes tone, Coyote Vs. Acme’s jokes and one-liners tend to be terribly hit-or-miss, especially once the plot takes over.