A blast of pure joy, Coyote vs Acme features the most memorable Albuquerque attorney since Better Call Saul.
Like Saul Goodman in the AMC television series, Kevin Avery (Will Forte) advertises his law firm through the use of billboards and television commercials, focusing on personal-injury lawsuits that he can easily settle out of court for a few hundred dollars each. He has little personal concern for or interest in his clients, who are generally cartoon characters in the streets of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Business is booming at the law firm of Avery, Jones, and Maltese -- a hat-tip tribute to legendary animation directors Tex Avery and Chuck Jones, as well as legendary writer Michael Maltese -- and so Kevin swats away the persistent efforts of intern Paige (Lana Condor -- someone must have truly relished the rare opportunity to cast the actress in a movie featuring another breed of bird). Kevin plainly states to Paige that the only reason he keeps her around is because she’s his niece, not because he takes seriously any of her good-hearted, justice-minded efforts to wake him from his professional slumber.
Before those humans appear, an opening scene, set in 1992 at a huge warehouse of industrial product-maker Acme, introduces an equally huge secret of some kind that Dr. Lorre attempts to whisk away from the warehouse. Enemy agents halt his escape, and he is forced to jump into a literal black hole that is promptly rolled up and filed away.
Thirty years later, Wile E. Coyote is still in perpetual pursuit of Road Runner. One night, as he ponders his next plan to catch the pesky bird -- carefully laid out on blue architectural paper -- he sees a television ad for Kevin Avery, specially targeted at cartoon characters.
Wile E. promptly shows up the next day, armed with an infinity box of evidence to support his legal complaint that Acme and their malfunctioning products are the source of his continuous failure to catch -- and eat, of course -- the ever-pesky Road Runner. Those products have also caused him endless pain and suffering; never mind that he always heals instantly, it still hurts whenever he suffers grievous bodily injuries.
Kevin pays Wile E. no mind, which is made easier for the shiftless lawyer because the coyote is not able to speak. (Instead, he carries a limited number of signs and uses gestures as a form of sign language to communicate.) A misunderstanding between Kevin and a law clerk, however, results in a billion-page lawsuit, citing every product manufactured by Acme.
That brings in Acme’s head lawyer, Buddy Crane (a sneering John Cena), who was a Harvard Law School classmate of Kevin, and revels in his grand financial and professional success. (Again, tremors of Better Call Saul and the rivalry between the rumpled Jimmy, aka Saul, and his older, far more accomplished attorney brother Chuck.)
Acting through Buddy Crane, a dismissive offer is made, which excites Kevin -- $50,000 dollars!!! -- but is immediately rejected by Wile E., who demands justice. Or so he claims.
First published in The New Yorker in 1990, Ian Frazier’s short-short story, which takes place entirely during the court trial that concludes the film, has been greatly expanded by screenwriter Samy Burch (May December, Late Fame), from a story credited to James Gunn, Jeremy Slater, and Burch.
Because it was produced, in part, by Warner Animation Group, the live-action/animated film had access to all the Looney Tunes characters, many of whom play supporting roles or cameos, in a manner akin to Robert Zemeckis’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In a bone-headed move, the completed film was shelved in November 2023, reportedly so Warner Bros. could take a tax write-off. After reportedly considering simply deleting the film (?!), the studio shopped it around Hollywood, eventually getting the price it wanted from Ketchup Entertainment in 2025.
The joke is on Warner Bros. Coyote vs Acme is the best comedy they’ve produced but never released. The film is filled with a fast and furious barrage of sly jokes and witty one-liners and classic sight gags and wacky physical comedy and all the Warner Bros. cartoon characters made famous over the decades, voiced mostly by Eric Bauza, with several female characters by Candi Milo and Tasmanian Devil by Jim Cummings. (The New Yorker also gets a visual shout-out.)
Lana Condor is steadfastly supportive as the most righteous and upright lawyer since Gregory Peck’s Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). John Cena suitably overplays his role as an attorney, hamming it up in a manner that is entirely intentional and quite humorous as a result. Key supporting roles are played by Martha Kelley (as a dour-faced law office worker), P.J. Byrne (as Cena’s sleazy assistant) and Luis Guzmán as Judge Troppogrosso, an unkind character name.
Will Forte combines his familiar comic persona with a dramatic edge he first displayed in Nebraska (2013), enlivening several speeches with genuine warmth and passion. Bob Hoskins gave an incredible live-action performance with cartoon characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit; Forte does not consistently achieve that high level here, but there are definitely moments when he surprised me, which only benefits Coyote vs. Acme and its appeal for adults who may be accompanying delighted children and young adults.
The film opens Friday, August 28, throughout Dallas and Fort Worth, only in movie theaters, via Ketchup Entertainment. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.