Beyond the obvious lack of any real plot, Broken Lizard's Club Dread and Starsky and Hutch have one thing in the common: the abundance of gorgeous women in the cast. It's understandable that the Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson flick, which arguably had more casting clout, drew in such superstar hotties as Brande Roderick, Carmen Electra, Amy Smart and Molly Sims. But the commercial success of comedy troupe Broken Lizard's first film Super Troopers probably allowed the group to bankroll its own posse with Brittany Daniels and Jordan Ladd. These women give us something to focus on in the absence of anything remotely near real comedy. These two flicks make you wonder how There's Something About Mary got through without any nudity.
It is pretty fair to say that it's easier to make good dramas than good comedies. Find a good cinematographer to set-up pretty shots, hire a creative editor to put it together and find an established actor to convey a sense of misery, and you'll have your own Lost in Translation in no time. It doesn't have to be about anything, as long as it makes you believe that it is exploring something subtle and deep. Comedies don't have it that easy. If a joke falls flat, there's eerie silence in the theatre. Bad timing and transition between scenes is lethal. And God help you if you've run out of ideas half way through the movie.
Club Dread has the right idea for a spoof and sets it up brilliantly. But somewhere along the middle, it loses track of what it wanted to accomplish, just like the cheesy teenage-slasher movies it satirizes. Starsky and Hutch goes one better, partly because it takes itself half-seriously and partly due to better direction. There's a flow to the movie, and the acting is great across the board. As a matter of fact, you would probably realize there is nothing much in the way of a story.
Director and Broken Lizard troupe-leader Jay Chandrashekhar and his gang make the trip from Vermont to sunny Caribbean in Club Dread, where an island resort run by a once famous rocker Coconut Pete (Bill Paxton) offers nothing but fun, sex and sand. Kevin Heffernan is the new stumpy lump of a Swedish masseur Lars (instead of the tall masseuse they were expecting), and Chandrashekhar is an eccentric dreadlocked British tennis enthusiast named Putnam. Steve Lemme is the womanizing Don Juan guest. And then there's Jenny (Daniels) who's the head of staff and whose primary work in this movie is to look sexy as she sashays around the island in bikinis. It should probably be noted that she does do a good job at that.
Alas, the tranquility is broken by a murderer on the loose who threatens to kill everyone if the guests are told of the mishaps. The staff is told to carry on with their daily work and pretend nothing happened, while a machete-bearing maniac goes about his or her work.
The movie goes into autopilot a little later. There's an entire collection of funny one-liners and little scenes, but it's as if they ran out of ideas and how to connect them. The exposure of the killer's identity is disappointing, and there is a tendency to drag just for the heck of it. Yet, the movie works on some levels since it's quirky and has great characters. Also, there are fewer funnier scenes than watching girls running around in a maze in an imitation of the game Pacman.
Starsky and Hutch is helmed by Todd Phillips (Old School, Road Trip), and he knows his comic timing. The film is a highly retro remake of the tongue-in-cheek "70s cop show of the same name. The catch to this winning formula is that either you have became tired of watching Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller pal around, or you haven't. If you haven't, Wilson (Hutch) and Stiller (Starsky) make a great pair, who act as foils. Their contrasting styles and mannerisms make for a great buddy-cop movie.
But if the casting agents did a good job there, they outdid themselves by placing Snoop Dogg as dope pusher-turned-police informant Huggy Bear. One of the funniest moments in the movie is when Huggy and his goons are explaining what a duchy and a terrarium are, while guns are pointed.
Vince Vaughn is coke dealer Reese Feldman, who spurs the investigation that gets the boys' badges revoked but in the end makes them heroes. Vaughn's understated sense of finesse at being funny is always fun to watch.
Will Ferrell appears in a wildly-cheered cameo as Feldman's man on the inside, a gay tailor named Big Earl who is casting a spell in prison. If Hannibal Lecter's request of quid pro quo in Silence of the Lambs was one to remember, then Ferrell's (delivered when Starsky and Hutch come to visit him in jail) will rank right up there: "I like your blonde partner. Ask him to show me his belly button."
Thrown in are a disco dance-off between a Starsky unknowingly high on cocaine and a regular at a dance club, followed by Owen Wilson's nightcap threesome with Elektra and Smart.
The movie never lets up, and I guess it's because it isn't trying too hard outside of just building up funny scenes and keeping them coming. The "70s music adds a wonderful soundtrack and backdrop to the entire affair.
Both these movies over the past couple of weekends released with a fair amount of expectations. Neither was disappointing, though it's unlikely either will go down as a keeper. The more mainstream comedy of Starsky and Hutch contrasts well with the oddball genre of Club Dread. Plus, if you think about it, it's really hard to screw up a comedy with generous servings of really hot women. But then again, there's always Tomcats.
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