The Lonely Island have made their name with performances in Saturday Night Live and their music. Examples are Jizz in my pants, Like a Boss, Dick in a Box and the Grammy nominated I’m on a boat (the video is just comedy gold). The titles of these number probably say a lot about the expectations you will have about third first movie, Hot Rod.
Rod lives together with his mother, stepfather (Ian McShane, who i knew from the HBO series Deadwood where he played Al Swearengen) and stepbrother. He does stunts for fun. He isn’t a real stuntman, but he is well-known in his town. He regularly fights (literally) with his stepfather to prove he is a man and earn his respect.
When he hears that his stepfather doesn’t have a long time to live anymore because of his weak heart he sees all his chances to win disappear. So he decides to do the biggest stunt he ever did to try to raise money that way to pay for a new heart. It’s a bizarre story, but obviously perfect to base a comedy on.
The movie has it’s funny moments. My personal favorites are a dancing fan (when you see the movie you will know who I mean) and a scene in which Danny McBride hits someone because that person wants to speak to Rod because he crashed into his car.
Despite these scenes I was disappointed by the movie. The jokes were sometimes just to simple and the story itself just too basic to earn a higher score.
Another thing i liked was a short clip i heard of a song which turned out to be “A gringo like me”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G02b5pfnJYk]
The movie is enjoyable, but if you want to watch a comedy it’s better to watch something like Superbad (or any of the other titles mentioned in that review).
Score: 5