SNL “star” Adam Samberg gets his requisite 15 minutes of theatrical fame in his bid for big-screen stardom in the mostly mediocre ‘Hot Rod’, where Samberg plays an amateur suburban stuntman who risks life and limb to raise moo-lah for his stepdad’s heart transplant.
Taking a page from any number of previous SNL-actor to the big screen (mostly derived from SNL skits) books where a thinly-drawn broad character that fits the sensibilities of the actor is blown up to 80-90 minutes where most of the jokes could comfortably fit into 15 minutes, Adam Samberg’s ‘Rod Kimble’ is no different. Even if the character wasn’t drawn from SNL, it easily could have been.
The tone decidedly falls somewhere in between ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ and ‘Jackass’ taking that particular sequence from ‘Napoleon’ where the titular suburban goofball crash and burns off a bicycle jump but now adding a ‘Jackass’ make-over and extending it to feature-length. The wafer-thin plot finds the imperturbable Rod Kimble never giving up on his dream of following in his dead father’s footsteps of being a stunt man.
Setting up local stunts with his troop of friends, Rico (Danny R. McBride), Dave (Bill Hader), half-brother Kevin (Jorma Taccone) and potential g.f. Denise (Isla Fisher), things get serious when his stepdad Frank (Ian McShane) needs $50,000 for a heart transplant. Frank, a miserable old dude whose idea of shaping Rod up to be a man is to beat him senseless, never showed any faith in Rod so Rod sets out to prove himself by raising this money – and by saving Frank, it also gives him another chance of being able to kick Frank’s ass.
And that’s ninety-minutes in a nutshell. Supposedly relying on Samberg’s comedic presence, I’ve never been much of a fan of his SNL work or his web-based comedy troupe ‘the Lonely Island’ where the other cohorts in that troupe, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer are involved in this production with Taccone playing Kevin and Schaffer getting directing duties. Samberg can be moderately amusing with the right material but unlike, say Will Ferrell, lacks the immediately humorous physical punch.
His ‘Lonely Island’ buds can be funny also but like ‘Broken Lizard’, a lot of the material has that aura of being much funnier at the time and between themselves. Riffs like this film’s ‘Cool Beans’ sequence has an absurdity quotient but not necessarily a funny quotient. The obvious highlights of the stunts are dampened somewhat by ‘Jackass’ i.e. dummies getting the brunt of the pain isn’t quite as funny as real ‘Jackass’es.
All that being said, I laughed hard at the ‘Footloose’ “punch-dance” sequence which might just be worth the price of a rental alone-particularly if you’ve had to stomach ‘Footloose’ in the past decade or so. Along with the rolling down the mountainside scene that plays out for entirely too long that it goes from funny to not funny to hilarious; much like ‘The Simpsons’ episode where Sideshow Bob gets a rake in the face, not once, not twice, but nine times! Sissy Spacek doesn’t get much to do as Rod’s mother but Ian McShane is a bright spot as the gruff stepdad who might actually be on to something when he beats Rod senseless.
The film is presented with a 1080p widescreen transfer. Not the best demo disc to pop in for HD just considering the low-budget comedic content yet this is still the best this film will ever look with a clear defined image and sharp, vibrant colors. But it’s ‘Hot Rod’ people, I think it’s safe to say the image won’t be blowing anybody out of their chairs. The same goes for the more than competent English 5.1 TrueHD track - obnoxious repeats of ‘Cool Beans’ never sounded so good.
Special Features include a commentary by Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone, a Behind the Scenes featurette, Deleted & Extended Scenes, Outtakes, the Punch-Dance sequence and the films theatrical trailer.
Comedy is subjective and I’m sure there are plenty of people who will find this pic hilarious throughout and if you’re a fan of Lonely Island or Samberg, then by all means step on up. I found it sporadically humorous but was mostly indifferent to it as a whole. Your mileage may vary.
Hot Rod HD DVD is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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