Why is Mr. Clean Such a Noticeable Part of Foodfight! (2012)?

Before I get into the meat of this post, let me give you some background on Foodfight!  The movie was intended to come out in 2003.  In early 2003, some of the hard drives for the movie were stolen and it had to be delayed.  Two more times it got delayed; once in 2005 and again in 2007.  Eventually, the movie was auctioned off by its distributor and released quietly in 2012.  It has since gained some notoriety as one of the worst animated films ever produced.

Foodfight! tells the story of Dex Dogtective (Charlie Sheen), a hero detective in Marketropolis who is trying to solve the case of his missing girlfriend, Sunshine Goodness (Hilary Duff).  When a company called Brand X comes into the grocery store that they live in (Marketropolis), Dex, his friend Daredevil Dan (Wayne Brady), and the rest of the Marketropolis citizens must put an end to the brand and its leader, Lady X (Eva Longoria).  Other voices in the movie include Larry Miller, Chris Kattan, Christopher Lloyd, Ed Asner, Jerry Stiller, Christine Baranski, Edie McClurg, Harvey Fierstein, and Cloris Leachman.  That’s a pretty solid cast for a bad movie.

So, what you’ve got here is a movie about food brands (some real and some made up) in a grocery store fighting a war.  Dex Dogtective is a cereal mascot.  Daredevil Dan is a squirrel that is the character for some sort of chocolate.  Mrs. Butterworth makes an appearance, as do Charlie Tuna and the Twinkie mascot.  The characters represent food.  The characters fight with food.  Yet, for some reason, there are a lot of sightings of Mr. Clean throughout the movie.

I understand that Foodfight! takes place in a grocery store and grocery stores have cleaning products as well as food.  There tends to be an aisle for cleaning products.  I see it all the time at the grocery store.  It is because people want to keep a clean kitchen because it gives them a better feeling that the food will be cleaner.  It makes sense.  Cleaning gets rid of germs, so the food preparation space would be cleaner.  Hence why Mr. Clean could make an appearance in a movie set in a grocery store where the products come to life.

The problem is that the character of Mr. Clean feels so out of place in a world where all of the other characters are food mascots.  Why are there so many food mascots and only one mascot for a cleaning product?  Why is Mr. Clean always seen hanging around with these characters?  Shouldn’t food and cleaning supplies be separated so that no contamination happens?  These are all questions that I have when I think about the character’s inclusion in the action of Foodfight! 

There were many other ways that they could have featured the iconic character without making him feel so out of place in the grocery world.  The one that I thought up immediately while trying to consider alternatives to the character’s out-of-placeness was that there could have been a gang of cleaning product characters.  They could have been the muscle that Dex Dogtective brought in for the retaliation against Brand X.  It would have been more fitting for the character, reduced the odd nature of him always being there, and given some time to the cleaning aisle that most grocery stores have.  Perhaps I’m just a person with better ideas than the people behind Foodfight!

There is a lot of craziness to be found in Foodfight! but nothing is crazier to me than the fact that Mr. Clean is treated like just another food mascot.  He is not a food mascot.  He is a mascot to a cleaning product, and as such, he should not be fraternizing with the food mascots present throughout the rest of the movie.  If the people shopping there had only known that Mr. Clean had been up close and personal with their cereals, cheeses, tuna, and chocolates, they would have been able to find the reasoning for their sicknesses.  As it is, the characters are basically living in a “What they don’t know won’t hurt them” world.  That’s kind of how you should be with the movie.  If you don’t watch it, you won’t know it.  If you don’t know it, it can’t hurt you.  So don’t watch Foodfight!

This was a rather short post.  Here are some notes:

• Foodfight! is the third Sunday “Bad” Movie appearance for Christopher Lloyd.  He was previously featured in The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, as well as Baby Geniuses.
• Another actor making his third appearance in the Sunday “Bad” Movies is Wayne Brady who has shown up in Crossover and The Hero of Color City.
• Stephen Stanton has been in two Sunday “Bad” Movies.  Before Foodfight!, he was featured in Playing For Keeps.
• Mark Povinelli is another actor who has already been in the Sunday “Bad” Movies before Foodfight!  He was in Tiptoes.
• Daniel Franzese was first introduced to the Sunday “Bad” Movies in Cruel World.  He has now been in two movies.
• Cloris Leachman is someone who has somehow managed to get into two Sunday “Bad” Movies.  Those movies are Foodfight! and The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure.
• If you know Larry Miller, you might recognize that he has been in both Foodfight! and New Year’s Eve.
• Christopher Maleki managed to get into two Sunday “Bad” Movies.  They are Foodfight! and Beverly HillsChihuahua.
• Finally, there’s Edie McClurg who has been in Foodfight! and Roxanne’s Best Christmas Ever.
• Have you seen Foodfight!?  I really want to read your thoughts about it.  Use the comments below.
• Is there a movie that you think I should watch for the Sunday “Bad” Movies?  What movie do you think I should watch?  Use the comments below to tell me, or contact me on Twitter.
• Next week’s movie will be Orca.  Why?  I wanted it to be Orca.  I’ve never seen Orca and I’m curious what the movie is going to be like.  So, yeah.  I’ll see you next week.