Directed by: Todd Phillips
Starring: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Amy Smart, Snoop Dogg
I enjoy when films exceed my expectations. When I saw Starsky and Hutch the first time, I didn't know what to expect. Movies based on TV shows are hit or miss, but Starsky and Hutch is a hit. It would be a quality comedy even if the TV series never existed. In fact, other than having its lead characters intact, 1970s Bay City and the Gran Torino with the white swoosh on it, this movie has little in common with the TV series. Oh and the actors who played Starsky and Hutch on TV make a guest appearance- almost forgot to mention that.
As the film opens, David Starsky (Stiller) and Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson (Wilson) are not partners. Starsky continually loses partners to transfer and Hutch makes money on the side by robbing drug dealers. They are thrown together by their exasperated captain and are soon on the trail of an arrogant drug dealer who is looking to make a big score by selling cocaine that K-9s can't detect. As Reese Feldman, the drug dealer, Vince Vaughn has never been better. He is a slick wiseguy who isn't above killing his subordinates who mess up. This causes serious concern for his lawyer (Jason Bateman), who doesn't want anything messing up their lucrative deals. Feldman blows this off by saying, "I promise I won't kill Terrance again, ok?" Even though he plays the villain, Vaughn gets some of the biggest laughs in the movie.
As partners, Starsky and Hutch don't mesh at first. Starsky wants to do everything by the book. Hutch wants to do as little work as possible. ( "Be here at 8am? I didn't think the police station opened that early.") When the duo discovers the body of the man Feldman killed washed ashore, Hutch says, "Let's push him out to sea and let him float down to someone else's precinct." But the two soon begin to see eye-to-eye and along with their club-owning informant Huggy Bear (Snoop Dogg), they look to nab Feldman and thwart his potential drug deal.
Starsky and Hutch is an action comedy with less focus on the action and more on the comedy. It doesn't spoof the TV series. It doesn't even know its origins were from a TV series. Yes, there are a few shootings and chase scenes, one which ends very badly for Starsky's beloved Gran Torino, but Stiller and Wilson make a well-matched pair. This is not surprising since they have made many movies together and have a smooth, unforced chemistry. They are not fighting over the same screen.
I also liked the 1970's look and feel of the movie as well. This was an era where Lincolns and Cadillacs were built like tanks. Huggy Bear gets a hold of a new model car even before it hits the market. When asked how he was able to get the car, he says, "I know some people who know some people who robbed some people." Huggy Bear and Feldman have a scene on the golf course which shows Huggy in all of his coolness and Feldman at his most obnoxious. "You know a lot about golf," Feldman says. Huggy responds, "I know even more about grass." I'm figuring this allusion to Snoop Dogg's real-life obsession with weed was purely intentional.
Comedies are fairly easy to review. If one makes me laugh often and enjoy myself, I like it. If not, then it's not a very good comedy. Sounds easy enough, right? Starsky and Hutch is simply a strong comedy and to this day, I'm waiting for a sequel.
No comments:
Post a Comment