| Overall Grade: |
B+ |
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| Story: |
B |
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| Acting: |
A- |
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| Direction: |
B |
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| Visuals: |
N/A |
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Funny Stuff
by Timothy (movies profile)
Nov 21, 2004
21
of
27 people found this review helpful
Remakes of television shows are not the most critically-praised sub-genre in in film industry. After all, "The Beverly Hillbillies" surprised America when it didn't even get nominated for Best Picture! Geez, the least they could have done is given Rob Schneider a nod for Supporting Actor (a little sarcasm, play along). When I found out "Starsky and Hutch" was being released, I didn't know how to react. On the negative side, you have a television show that America does not even remember or love that much. On the positive side, you have a hilarious cast and the writing/directing team behind "Old School".
This was a tough one, but I went with my gut instinct and attended a sneak preview of "Starsky and Hutch" two weeks ago. I will say, this has to be one of the funniest films of the year. I have not seen one episode of the original show, and that didn't matter one bit!
At this point, I really trust director Todd Phillips. After two successful comedies, this was his third chance, and he hit a home run out of the ballpark. The comedy has a slow start with very little laughs, but once the 20-minute-mark passed, I was laughing hysterically. Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller have a great chemistry in this film that makes many of the jokes work. Instead of constant gross-out gags, Wilson and Stiller play off of one another with quick dialogue and hilarious homosexual latency.
I can't give credit to just Stiller and Wilson for running this show. The always funny Will Ferrell has a couple of laugh-out-loud memorable scenes as a creepy prison inmate, Vince Vaughn steals scenes as the film's villain, and Snoop Dogg is surprisingly well cast as the pimped-out informant, Huggy Bear.
This is not the kind of humor that Phillips delivered with his previous hits "Road Trip" and "Old School". In fact I can only see certain people finding this film hilarious. "Starsky and Hutch" is not a run-of-the-mill, lame remake. Stiller and Wilson take the template of an old TV show and fill in the blanks with their improv style. I will not say I recommend "Starsky and Hutch" because I believe it speaks to a specific sense of humor, but I certainly loved it until the very end. |
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