The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature

Dinner and a Movie

By Steve Herte

The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature (Open Road Films, 2017) – Director: Cal Brunker. Writers: Bob Barlen, Scott Bindley (s/p), Cal Brunker (s/p & story), Daniel Woo (story), Peter Lepeniotis (story & characters). Stars: Will Arnett, Katherine Heigl, Maya Rudolph, Jackie Chan, Isabela Moner, Peter Stormare, Bobby Cannavale, Bobby Moynihan, Jeff Dunham, Gabriel Iglesias, Sebastian Maniscalco, Tom Kenny, Karl Wahlgren, Rob Tinkler & Julie Lemieux. Animated, Color, Rated PG, 91 minutes.

When I saw The Nut Job back in 2014 I was totally drawn in by the animation, the characters and the writing. This sequel was a must-see for me from the first trailer viewing. I still love the characters, I laughed often and I think I learned something from the animators.

Look closely at this film, and you’ll notice that the animals are all soft and furry (even the mole) and close-ups show every detail, every hair on the squirrels’ tails. That’s superior computer graphics and it makes them more lovable as the victims in the story. The people, on the other hand are hard, less detailed and stiffer drawn. They’re the aggressors.

This sequel starts where the first movie left off. Surly Squirrel (Arnett) and his woodland friends: Mole (Dunham), groundhogs Jimmy (Iglesias), Johnny (Maniscalco) and Jamie (Wahlgren); his best friend Buddy (Kenny) a blue rat, fatalistic mouse Redline (Tinkler), Daredevil Chipmunk and pug Precious (Rudolph) are all living high on the hog in the abandoned Nut Shop on the immense stock of nuts in the basement.

Andie Squirrel (Heigl) is busy trying to teach the remaining chipmunks how to forage naturally. She wants Surly to come back to the park and use his instincts and even turns down a huge Brazil nut when he proffers one to her. But Andie can get no followers. They all prefer the bounty to having to scrounge for a living. That is, until Mole forgets to shut off the boiler and the Nut Shop blows up (much like the Overlook Hotel in The Shining). Now they have to return to Oakton City’s Liberty Park, clueless about finding food. Redline now cries his repeated line, “We’re all gonna die!” This line becomes a running gag throughout the movie.

Meanwhile, Mayor Muldoon (Moynihan), who owns most of Oakton City and is making money from every sector, has his eyes on the only plot of ground not making him a profit, Liberty Park. His war with Surly and friends begins when he breaks ground for an ill-conceived, shoddily-built amusement park called Libertyland. One of the swings on the revolving ride is an office chair held up by ropes. An omen happens on opening day when the Mayor gives the cue to light the park’s name and all the bulbs fail except for the ones spelling “Lie Land.”

Surly and Andie separate to find an alternate food source and a place to live. Surly and Buddy meet Mr. Feng (Chan), an adorable white mouse and kung-fu master, in a dark alley in Chinatown. (Don’t call him “cute”!) He and his army of white mice chase Surly and Buddy out of their part of the city on the bumper of the next cab.

Andie and the groundhogs find a beautiful park across town. But the audience already knows it's a golf course owned by Mayor Muldoon. Jimmy learns this when he tries to eat a golf ball and it gets stuck in his teeth. Two crazed golfers try to “play it where it lies” from a speeding golf cart. We later learn that the park was the one the white mice inhabited before being ousted by the Mayor’s construction crews.

The park animals fight the construction any way they can, but Mayor Muldoon hires a two-faced Animal Control Officer named Gunther (Stormare). He’s all about non-cruelty to animals to the public, but in the Mayor’s presence he’s an evil sadist. He captures all but Surly and Buddy. On the other hand, the mayor’s daughter, the evil and severely spoiled Heather Muldoon (Moner) – this darling makes Veruca Salt in the movie Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) look like and angel – sends her Boston bull terrier Frankie (Cannavale) after them, but he falls in love with Precious. She takes them both home

What to do? Surly decides to put himself at the mercy of Mr. Feng and manages to recruit the whole army of white mice into the battle for Liberty Park.

I loved every minute and actually wish it were longer. It’s great for both children and adults. There are “gifts” sprinkled in every scene. My favorite was Mayor Muldoon’s license plate, MBEZLR (embezzler). The only mistake I noticed was that the arched entrance to Liberty Park read correctly from both sides when it should have been backwards from the inside. This isn’t Disney or Pixar, but the animation is superb. The writing is clever and the voices match the characters. It’s believable even though Surly is a purple squirrel and Buddy is a blue mouse. I’m looking for another sequel. After all, Surly finally says “I love you” to Andie and kisses her on the cheek, and they’re the only two squirrels in the park.

Rating: 4½ out of 5 Martini glasses.

District Social

252 West 37th Street, New York

www.districtsocialnyc.com

From the street it looks like any other chic New York bar, open to the sidewalk, noisy with chatty drinkers at the bar and all decked out in New York black with the name in big gothic capitals in white.

Inside, there are cherry wood bar and banquettes, the black leather cushions, the dark but her-block tables set with white chargers and black cloth napkins. And then there’s the wallpaper. Two walls have dark green paper with a bird feather pattern in muted colors and a third wall has a nightmare black wallpaper festooned with pink vines and huge cabbage roses. The party room in back has an original tin ceiling polished to an almost mirror-like shine that gives the impression of dining in an icebox.

Sitting in the “feather” room, I learned from my server, Felipe, that this restaurant shares no relation with either The District (94th Street) or the restaurants of Le District (Battery Park City). There two signature cocktails and I chose the “District Chili Margarita” – Herradura Silver tequila, lime juice, grapefruit juice, agave syrup, hot red chilies and cilantro garnished with a slice of jalapeῆo. Served in a medium-sized mason jar, the fruit juices cut the spice from the chilies so much that I kept stabbing the jalapeῆo to keep it going.

Since Felipe seemed eager to take an order and, having a big cocktail, I decided the appropriate first course after a movie about nuts was the “Sweet and Salty Cashews” (listed as an “Amuse” on the food menu). The tumbler filled with crunchy, sticky nuts made me wonder if I could finish that many and still have dinner. Between sips of my drink and a couple of cashews I chose the rest of my meal.

The diverse dishes on the menu didn’t seem to go with the general “look” of the restaurant. I thought to myself, “How can all of these be good?” I decided on the “Cauliflower and Pistachio Croquettes,” with parsley emulsion as my second dish, and ordered the 2014 Pinot Noir “Seven Devils” from Carlton Cellars, Willamette Valley, Oregon as my wine.

The croquettes were amazing. There were only three on a shiny black plate, but what flavor. Usually cauliflower doesn’t have that much to say for itself, but mixed with the pistachios and the crispy outer coating it was delicious. The Pinot Noir was the color of good Burmese rubies and had an oaky, cherry fruit flavor. (Another point gained by screw-top bottling.) It was a great match with the nuts, the croquettes and my main dish.

There were three main dishes I was attracted to. When I mentioned the “Moroccan Lamb Tagine" with root vegetables and lebne (yoghurt that has been strained to form a kind of soft cheese), Felipe recommended that dish. Up until that moment I couldn’t hone in on any particular ethnic leaning for the cuisine, so I chose it.

It was a wonderful dish. The lamb was a juicy, dark brown and sweet, and the lebne floated on top of it like a cloud decked with green shallot rings. To add to the mélange of cultures I ordered the “Sautéed Yuca” with red onion and Basque peppers as my side dish. Yuca (in English, Yucca) is similar to the taste of a dry potato with the texture of celery. It needed the herbal mayonnaise dip supplied with it. A piece of pita bread sliced in quarters was served with the meal.

Several of the desserts were extremely inviting, but Felipe came to the rescue. He recommended the beignets – fluffy sweet orbs stuffed with white chocolate yuzu coulis. They were served with a dish of vanilla pastry cream but that would have been way too much. The double espresso I ordered cut the sweetness so that I could indulge freely.

Who would have known that a place with such an unassuming name as District Social would have such an array of fabulous food? 

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