David Cross hated his experience making "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" so much, he's been actively campaigning against people heading to the theater to see it.
Appearing on "Conan" on Monday, Cross called the movie "In all honesty it was the most miserable experience I've ever had in my professional life." The star, who was raised Jewish but now identifies as an Atheist, then made a comment that could raise a firestorm -- if he weren't a comedian and crossing a line weren't his job.
Complaining that he was forced "at legal gunpoint" to spend a week on a cruise ship to film scenes in which he is covered, head to toe, in a pelican mascot costume, Cross called the exec behind the awful ocean ride "The personification of what people think about when they think negatively about Jews."
Conan acted surprised at the comment and quickly changed the discussion.
Beyond the dispute with the producer, Cross had other beefs with the third installment of the "Alvin" live action franchise, which he called a "big commercial for Carnival Cruise Lines." It was so bad, in fact, that while he had nothing but kind words to say for the cast and crew, he urged people not to see the film.
"If you see the movie -- and don't -- first of all, 'Chipwrecked,' it's a pun. Five year olds love puns," he joked.
This actually is not the first time the star has spoken out against the animated film.
"It's safe to say I won't be working with some of those people ever again," he told BlackBook Magazine in December. "Not the actors. And the director [Mike Mitchell] was great. We got along. It was just a really awful, unpleasant experience."
Critics have done the film no favors, either, giving it a 13% rating score on the site Rotten Tomatoes and calling it "the lowest common denominator family entertainment." Theatergoers have helped the film gross $240 million worldwide, though its opening weekend pull was about half of the first two films in the "Alvin" canon.
