In addition to his other talents, like setting up Jennifer Lawrence for this perfect joke, Zach Galifianakis is also a skilled voice performer. He was Joker in The Lego Batman Movie, one of the best comic book movies of the 2010s; the titular bigfoot (great band name) in Missing Link; and in Ron’s Gone Wrong, he’s a clumsy, mischievous, adorable robot.
Ron’s Gone Wrong is directed by Sarah Smith, who told Entertainment Weekly that the film, with its message about keeping real-life connections even when surrounded by technology, has gained significance during the pandemic. “The bad guy of the film says, ‘Stay home, stick to your screens, you don’t need to see each other.’ Of course, for most kids, they desperately need to see each other,” she said. “So, in a way, our film became more poignant and about the pitfalls of relationships conducted entirely through screens and messages online, because you just don’t have all those other human cues. It means everyone has to work hard to communicate with each other.”
Here’s the official plot summary:
Ron’s Gone Wrong is the story of Barney, a socially awkward middle-schooler and Ron, his new walking, talking, digitally-connected device, which is supposed to be his “Best Friend out of the Box.” Ron’s hilarious malfunctions, set against the backdrop of the social media age, launch them into an action-packed journey in which boy and robot come to terms with the wonderful messiness of true friendship.
Ron’s Gone Wrong, which also features the voices of Jack Dylan Grazer, Olivia Colman, Ed Helms, Justice Smith, and Rob Delaney, opens on October 22.