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 Chris' Review: Did I ever tell you how much I hate stupid comedy? Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person in the world who dislikes the schlock that Will Ferrell puts out. I feel like I'm the only one that gets insulted by idiotic SNL movies concocted from something that wasn't funny as a 3 minute skit. Most of the time I can't even find the humor in an obscenely overweight black woman crushing a skinny white boy in some madcap bedroom romp. Bathroom humor, for the most part, escapes me. Homophobic antics make me groan. Most derogatory references towards less popular points of view, regardless of how they are presented, usually irk me more than entertain me. The thing is, I genuinely laughed during "Without a Paddle". This movie had everything going for it that I dislike. There was even a central scene where human feces were used as ammunition against the bad guys. It's like someone took notes on all the times I groaned during such gems as "Night at the Roxbury" or "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" and tried to write a movie with all the bad parts. I can't say enough bad things about this script. The plot was so full of holes that it could have passed for a hooker's fishnets. I'm going to let that part go... it's a lowbrow comedy... who expects there to be a solid plot? It was also unbelievably predictable. I mean of COURSE the scary backwoods men that they encounter have hundreds of acres of marijuana and are running a drug operation under the watchful eye of the bumpkin Sheriff. Oops... hope I didn't ruin it for ya. Yeah, right. The movie had a feel-good premise with plenty of opportunity to be created into an adult "Stand By Me" or "Goonies". The feces forked into our mouths by the writers is ... um... well... it tastes pretty bad. The acting is what saved it. Dax Shepard, Matthew Lillard, and the incomparable Seth Green rushed to the rescue and pulled this out of the sewer. The movie is based on the idea that these three guys (with their departed fourth) grew up together. You buy that. Easily. The camaraderie between them is perfect, from the genuine care for each other's well-being, to the practical jokes and depreciation humor. Then, with that interplay firmly in place, they turn on that magical chemistry and top it off with some great comedic timing. Every leaden joke is turned to gold with this alchemic trio. I laughed my fool ass off. After the movie, thinking back, I was actually embarrassed at what I had laughed at... but damn were those boys funny! So in the end, it was a terrible movie... but worth more than the hundred pennies I spent. I give it three thumbs up, almost exclusively for the cast (Burt Reynolds ROCKED!). If you had thrown some more mediocre talent in there (say, the level of the Sheriff) I think my score would have been much MUCH lower. Once was enough, though... don't expect me to buy the DVD.   Jim's Review: Occasionally, a humble film of humble promise comes along, wanting nothing more than to poke a few chuckles out of you. It doesn't aspire to greatness, or have any delusions of grandeur. Its producers don't take out self-aggrandizing "for your consideration" ads in trade magazines when the Oscar chin-scratchers get down to brass tacks. It just jumps into your lap, eager to please, like a puppy with good lighting. "Without a Paddle" is just that. Blending the slapstick, screwball humor you'd expect to find in any buddy comedy with themes of friendship, love, and loss, it manages to achieve its only seeming goal: To put a smile on your face. Childhood buddies Dan (Seth Green), Jerry (Matthew Lillard) and Tom (Dax Shepard) are pushing thirty, and feeling the generational shift. On some level, each longs for the days when the three of them, along with the adventurous Billy (Anthony Starr), would undertake swashbuckling adventures, always returning to their way-cool treehouse to tally their treasures. For his part, Billy kept up his derring-do into adulthood, scaling mountains, jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, and generally endangering his life with every breath. Of course, fate has a way of catching up with daredevils, and the remaining three musketeers soon find themselves back together, and reminiscing over old times at Billy's untimely funeral service. A few tee many martoonis later, and Billy's old backyard treehouse beckons with more nostalgia. It's there that they discover their old booty chest, complete with action figures and baseball cards...But with a few recent additions. Seems Billy retained not just his love for adventure into adulthood, but also his proclivity for using their old headquarters for planning excursions, as the box also now contains a map, and plans for the four of them to take a white-water rafting trip through the canyons and valleys of Oregon. And as an added bonus, the map and accompanying scrawled margin notes also point toward Billy's apparent mathematical-analysis discovery of the likely landing spot of the infamous D.B. Cooper. The remaining band of brothers decide (albeit reluctantly on Dan's part) to undertake Billy's trip as a the last youthful last hurrah honoring his memory. A little canoeing, some camping, maybe solving a modern mystery...What could go wrong? Apparently, everything. Between bear attacks, boatwrecks, and losing all of the supplies, the three of them also manage to run afoul of a grizzly pair of pot-farming, gun-toting rednecks ("ER"s Abe Benrubi and frequent View Askew alumnus Ethan Suplee) by burning up their whole bumper crop. Things are going so badly that not even a sensuous encounter with a pair of arboreal, tree-hugging hippie chicks (Rachel Blanchard and Christina Moore) living in a logging-company-thwarting loft can turn the trip around. "Without a Paddle" is nothing so much as a self-referential "Deliverance" with an uncontrollable case of the giggles and a fondness for dick and poop jokes, but it largely works on the likability of its stars. Their chemistry is undeniable. They sell their characters' history together through a million subtle pieces of interplay that register largely subconsciously, but nevertheless paint a picture of familiarity. Matthew Lillard is almost always better than the movies he's in, and that streak continues. He has a loose-limbed, goofy-best-friend quality that makes you want to smile as often as he does...Which is a lot. Seth Green COULD have made a career out of playing downtrodden dorks like Dan, but largely doesn't. Still, when he does, it's easy to see why he ducks typecasting so stringently; it's a role he plays with the natural aplomb of someone who grew up red-haired and short. The biggest surprise is Dax Shepard. His biggest credit to date is has been playing second fiddle to Ashton Kutcher on "Punk'd", but he more than demonstrates his worth on the big screen. His easygoing demeanor and charmingly crooked smile make him the sort of guy who you KNOW must be bullshitting you...But you just can't stay mad at him. All in all, "Without a Paddle" is a nice distraction. It's funnier than it deserves to be, warmer than it ought to be, and works better than it has any right to. It's not all that challenging, but plenty of laughs more than make up for it. 5 thumbs up. (It also bears mentioning that I added 1 bonus point for the ironic Burt Reynolds cameo, but then immediately took it away for the total absence of the gratuitous nudity that at least partially defines the genre. The final score is the same...but these are nonetheless important considerations.) BackHome - Info - Reviews - Map - Message Board - Photo Album |
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