It still doesn’t do much for me, but fans of Andy Samberg will have something to rev their engines about as Hot Rod roars onto Blu-ray. Put on your fake mustaches, beat up your stepdad, pop the corn, and lounge in your bean bag as you pop this one into your player (if you can stand to).
Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg) is a wanna-be stuntman who goes about town staging feats of daring-do that usually end with him crashing. His team of Rico (Danny McBride), who builds the ramps, Dave (Bill Hader), his machinist, and his half-brother Kevin (Jorma Taccone), his videographer, assists him in his stunts.
Rob believes that every stuntman needs a mustache and since he can’t grow one he pastes a false one on. His late father had a mustache and was a stuntman after all, according to his mother Marie (Sissy Spacek). She’s remarried and Rod and his stepfather Frank (Ian McShane) have impromptu fights to that Rod will earn Frank’s respect. Needless to say Frank always beats the hell out of Rod and therefore earns no respect.
Tragedy strikes as Frank develops a grave heart condition. Rod is distraught because if Frank dies unbeaten then Rod would not have gotten the respect he thinks he so richly deserves. To save Frank Rod will have to raise $50,000 to pay for the operation, since the insurance company won’t cover the procedure.
He decides that he’ll raise $5,000 to finance a death-defying stunt to jump fifteen buses and the publicity raised from this massive stunt will pay off in a telethon to raise the money to save Frank.
I didn’t much care for Hot Rod the first time I saw it and seeing it in high definition still didn’t do it for me. It has a weird 1970s vibe even though it’s supposed to be current as Rod insists on dressing in his vision of a stuntman with his 70s fake mustache.
Rod is still a loser though and is apt to crash or get the crap beaten out of him by his stepdad or little kids. The project was supposedly written for Will Ferrell and Samberg took over when he didn’t do it. It’s an acquired taste and if you’ve seen Samberg on Saturday Night Live then you may think that Hot Rod is nirvana. I didn’t see the point the first time and still don’t get it in high-def.
Hot Rod is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.35:1). Special features include a commentary from director Akiva Schaffer and actors Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone. The remainder of the special features is in standard definition, save for the film’s trailer which is in high-def.
The 8 minute “Ancestors Protect Me” which interviews Jorma Taccone (who likes to take his pants off), Samberg, director Schaffer, Ilsa Fischer (“Denise”), Bill Hader, and production manager Jim Rowe. Next are 14 minutes of deleted scenes with optional commentary and 3 minutes of outtakes. 4 minutes of videos made by Kevin to promote Rod, a 2-minute comparison of the “Punch-Dance” to the original in Footloose, 1 minute of home video footage of the orchestra recording session, the 1-minute theatrical trailer.
Hot Rod still didn’t do it for me, but fans will certainly be glad to get it on Blu-ray. Enjoy it if you can, I know that it didn’t do much for me. It has a smidge of emotionally challenged charm but not enough to make it a good movie.
Hot Rod [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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