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 Chris' Review: Now, before I begin, I want everyone to know that I hate this type of movie. I didn't like the "Brady Bunch Movie", I hated "Scooby Doo", I even disliked "Charlies Angels" (although it did have it's merits). I don't like dredging up old TV shows and making big budget movie mistakes out of them. "Scooby Doo" was a beautiful cult classic cartoon and it's good name has been dragged through the mud by the garbage that Hollywood mishmashed together. "The Brady Bunch Movie" did a better job in that it made fun of the sitcom. It made it kitchy and quirky... it still didn't do anything for me, though. Starsky & Hutch rocked as a movie, though. Stiller and Wilson are just a great comedic team. It's so obvious how well they get along together... it was like a couple of kids just having fun up on the screen... and if people are really enjoying what they're doing... it's fun to watch. Yes, they took a "Brady Bunch" type of spin to it, making fun of it, cracking gay innuendo, bashing the 70's with more than your average amount of zeal.. but there was always something that brought it back to "cool". Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear looked absolutely ridiculous, he was forced into some absurd dialogue... yet he always had an aloof coolness about him that kept him from coming off as a clown. Wilson, as well, always had an impervious stoicism that drove the movie. Stiller... well, Stiller was his usual self... not that it's bad... but it was comedy relief in the middle of a comedy. My favorite parts were all the throwbacks to the series. The fantasy scene where Starsky and Hutch were running on the beach with matching t-shirts on with the original series logo emblazoned across the chest. The impossible car jump sequences. To be honest, I was a bit young when the series was on and I really don't remember too much; but, it doesn't keep me from enjoying the cameo by the original actors, Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul. What really made this cameo work is that they didn't just throw them into the background. They didn't have them walk across the screen or have them serving up Big Gulps at the 7-11. They gave them a full scene. They called as much attention to the fact that these were the originals... these were the guys... as they could. Nice homage... really nice. Anyway, funny all the way through. Some of the schtick didn't really do much for me, but like I said, neither did the "Brady Bunch". Over all, I'd say it's a keeper... but nothing that's going to become cult or win anyone an Oscar. I give it 6 thumbs up.   Jim's Review: First, a disclaimer: I frequently and loudly bemoan the lack of originality in Hollywood. Most film executives wouldn't know an imaginative, novel screenplay if it leapt up and bit them on the ass. Hard. The multiplexes these days are awash in a miasma of remakes, adaptations, sequels, "based-ons", and other projects that find their roots in grounds other than a gifted screenwriter's novel imagination. And that largely sucks. That being said, I'll admit to a certain amount of hypocrisy: I enjoyed "Starsky and Hutch." I enjoyed it quite a bit, actually. Still, it ain't your dad's "Starsky and Hutch". The dramatic overtones of the series are replaced by a light-hearted comic approach that goes to great lengths to poke holes in the goofiness of the '70's setting through the magic of revisionist perspective. And, though it shouldn't work, it does. To begin with, the chemistry between leads Ben Stiller (Det. David Starsky) and Owen Wilson (Det. Ken "Hutch" Huchinson) is undeniable. Maybe it's why they've worked so frequently together. They just work as the titular leads. The overwound, obsessive character Stiller has perfected in films like Mystery Men and Along Came Polly serves the uptight, by-the-book Starsky to a T-square. Similarly, the relaxed, easy-going demeanor seemingly patented by Owen Wilson (I Spy, Shanghai Noon) brings a languid overtone to "Hutch" that serves as an effective, humorous foil, a counterpoint of contrast to Stiller's rigidity. The two play "plainclothes" (at least, as "plain" as the '70's setting permits) detectives on the trail of a narcotics bust. The film begins promisingly. Sleazeball drug dealer Reese Feldman (The always-reliable Vince Vaughn) and his weaselly partner Friday (a barely-recognizable Jason Bateman) have developed a new strain of cocaine - One with all of the effects of the drug, but undetectable to most forms of field testing and detection...Including drug-sniffing dogs. Their plan to distribute the drug to area dealers is hampered when the body of a witness shot by Feldman is discovered by Starsky and Hutch, setting off a chain of events that seems poised to endanger their scheme. Nevertheless, in classic bumbling-cop fashion, if the detective duo actually stumbles across any useful information, its usually by accident. Along the way, they butt heads with hard-pimpin' street informants (A surprisingly capable Calvin "Snoop Dogg" Broadus as the smooth-as-silk Huggy Bear), greasy convicts (Will Farrell in a memorable uncredited cameo), and the cops of their own department, who seem determined to work against them from within. Welcome, fun touches to watch for: A laugh-out-loud funny "Easy Rider" homage, Owen Wilson's crooning of a lite-FM '70's pop hit originally performed by the actor who originated his role, and the obligatory redux cameo of the Starsky and Hutch from the television series. So, while films created from "adapted" materials often do more to sully the reputation of their source than enhance it, "Starsky and Hutch" gets a hearty reccommendation from me. Genuinely funny, well-cast, and more imaginative than one might expect, it's a nice break from what it could have been, and what far too many other "based-on" films have been: derivative hackwork coasting on leftover goodwill. It's a movie greater than the sum of its parts. I give it 7 thumbs up. 7 points for the writing, directing, casting, and execution...But three points off for it being what it is...Another knockoff, even a funny, enjoyable one, means there's an original screenplay that didn't get greenlighted. BackHome - Info - Reviews - Map - Message Board - Photo Album |
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