Pretty funny. See it March 5th!
Written by Scot Armstrong, John O'Brien and Todd Phillips
Directed by Todd Phillips (Road Trip, Old School)
---Cast:
Ben Stiller Dave Starsky
Owen Wilson Ken “Hutch” Hutchinson
Vince Vaughn Reese Feldman
Juliette Lewis Kitty
Jason Bateman Friday
Fred Williamson Captain Doby
Will Ferrell Big Earl
Chris Penn Manetti
Amy Smart Holly
Carmen Electra Staci
Brande Roderick Heather
Patton Oswalt Disco DJ
George Cheung Chau
Paul Michael Glaser Car seller #1
David Soul Car seller #2
Starsky & Hutch is the latest TV show from decades past to be satirized on the big screen. Rather than a straight treatment of the show, the movie uses a cynical 21st century POV to poke fun at our view of all things 70’s.
Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson play the titular undercover cops not by mimicking the mannerisms of Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul, who originated the roles on the small screen, but by maintaining their own familiar screen personas, and in so doing, creating humor through the juxtaposition. Ben Stiller’s Dave Starsky is a uptight, by-the-book, boy scout who initially chafes against the cool, laid-back rule-bending of his new partner (the movie depicts the duo’s first meeting and teaming up) Ken “Hutch” Hutchinson, who, as portrayed by Owen Wilson, makes the same sort of incredulous observations Owen makes all his other films, like The Haunting and Shanghai Knights. In taking this approach to their portrayal, Stiller and Wilson are not so much playing Starsky & Hutch so much as transplanting themselves into their clothes and hairstyles, making the movie seem like an hour and thirty-one minute Saturday Night Live skit, but unlike so many big screen comedies that actually are adapted from SNL skits, Starksy & Hutch is pretty funny, with serviceable jokes, and merciless skewered clichés of both the 70’s in general (like showing how bulky portable personal radios and hidden microphone equipment were compared to their 21st Century counterparts), and cop dramas in particular (Starsky, for example, rather than haunted by the legendary shadow of a deceased police officer father, is haunted by the legend of a deceased police officer mother, and given the comparative scarcity of females cops in the 70s, the twist is funny.) 21st Century political correctness and sensitivity is shoehorned into the era of big lapels, big hair and macho cop posturing, much as The Brady Bunch Movie did in 1995, but is far funnier, because rather than having main characters be the only ones in the film who act out this motif, with the rest of the characters incredulous upon encountering them as Bunch did, the entire movie exists in this universe, leaving the audience to react to it by themselves. Whereas some of look back at theThe Brady Bunch with a bit of cynicism and contempt, we’re still in love with the 70’s, and Stiller and Wilson are so likeable that it works much better than Bunch did.
The film also boasts an excellent portrayal of street informant Huggy Bear by the perfectly cast Snoop Dogg, who unlike Stiller and Wilson, steps into the shoes of the iconic TV pimp as if they were made for him. Whereas Stiller and Wilson elicit laughs because of the disparity between the famed characters they play and their own unlikely personas, Snoop provokes a sort of humorous fascination, as he is the one major character in the movie who acts as the straight man to the otherwise caricatured cast. Of particular delight is an undercover sequence where he poses as a gold caddy, and his later participation in the climax, which acts as a sort of payoff.
The plot is of secondary importance. It is just a vehicle to get Stiller and Wilson in a film together again (this is their sixth film together, the second in which they receive top billing), zipping around in a red Ford Torino, which is fine. Vince Vaughn is a drug lord trying to import a new kind of cocaine that scans as mere artificial sweetener to both police dogs and lab scans (resulting in a comedic mishap involving coffee and a disco dancing competition that I wouldn’t have expected in a film aiming for a PG-13 rating). There are plenty of good gags and funny jokes, and I liked Stiller and Wilson, so it was worth the hour and a half.
Just saw the trailer for this today, (I had somehow managed to miss all news of the film's existence) but this is looking set to to be a damned fine nights entertainment. But, can anybody tell me the name of the music used in the trailer, the piece that starts with the "This Spring" voice over? Or is it just an updated version of the theme tune or something?
The trailer's up at apple.com, guys.
Loved the cameo at the end!