STRANGE WILDERNESS
*½
Rating: R
Length: 87 minutes
Director: Fred Wolf
Writers: Peter Gaulke (Ice Age: The Meltdown; Black Knight) and Fred Wolf (Joe Dirt; Dirty Work)
Starring: Steve Zahn, Jonah Hill, Justin Long, Allen Covert, Ashley Scott, Harry Hamlin, Robert Patrick, Joe Don Baker, Jeff Garlin, Ernest Borgnine, Peter Dante
“Strange Wilderness” feels like an in-joke that the audience isn’t in on. It’s scenes seem completely random and unfinished. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if the actors are even certain that they’re delivering a joke (something tells me there were a lot of bong water stains on the original draft of the script). The movie is distributed by Adam Sandler’s production company, Happy Madison, and features a slew of actors that the stoner crowd will instantly recognize (Allen Covert and Peter Dante from “Grandma’s Boy” for example). Steve Zahn (who had some Oscar buzz for his role in “Rescue Dawn”) clearly needed something to add to his wallet. He and Covert play a couple of potheads who produce and create a “Wildlife” show that can be best described as if you and your friends got high and tried to explain what was happening during a “National Geographic” special. When the two are informed that their show is terrible and about to be cancelled there is only one solution to save it- find and kill Bigfoot! So they embark on an adventure into the woods with their inept crew (including Justin Long as a bong enthusiast- he actually gets the most laughs believe it or not). What else happens? Well, in one scene a turkey bites Zahn’s crotch and everyone has to try to pull the turkey off it. There’s some vomiting into a shark’s mouth and I believe someone drinks some urine, but I can’t remember. Can you blame me? Stoner comedies (like “Grandma’s Boy”) don’t have to be brilliant. They aren’t intended to be. But they have to at least be funny. I know people who have never smoked pot that still thought “Half Baked” was hilarious. Somehow I doubt they would think the same thing about “Strange Wilderness”.
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Deep Purple- Hush
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