The Dukes of Hazzard Movie Review

Yeehaw! How's that for a lame intro? I just got back from the Dukes of Hazzard, and I'm here to tell you, it's light years better than Stealth. Of course, that's akin to my Alone in the Dark/House of the Dead comparison, so it might not be much. But I did have one hell of a time, at least.

Based on the hit television series of the late 70s/early 80s, the Dukes of Hazzard, the motion picture, is just a fun old time. And a glorified episode of the series, albeit with a bigger budget for a lot more explosions and a lot of cooler car chases. But it's still a lot of fun, nonetheless.

Bo (Seann William Scott) and Luke (Johnny Knoxville) Duke are cousins in Hazzard county Georgia, running moonshine for their Uncle Jesse (WIllie Nelson) and getting into trouble with the inept yet corrupt law, run by Boss Hogg (Burt Reynolds) and Roscoe P. Coltrane (M.C. Gainey). Assisted with their ridiculously hot other cousin Daisy (Jessica Simpson) them Duke boys uncover a plot by Boss Hogg to steal the farms of Hazzard county and strip mine them for coal, while keeping the public away from the hearings by distracting them with the 70th annual Hazzard Rally! Will the Duke boys uncover the truth? Will Boss Hogg get away with his dastardly plan? Will Daisy take her shirt off? For the love of God, PLEASE!?!?!

Who really cares? The movie doesn't even seem to care, but that's kind of it's charm. The film is directed by Jay Chandrasekhar, he of Broken Lizard fame. (He played Thorny in Super Troopers, and he directed all three of the Broken Lizard films, as well as honing his skills on TVs Arrested Development). And the script had a re-writing, although uncredited, to the entire Broken lizard troupe. (They all have cameos, except for Farva, who actually has a hilarious minor role as Sheev. His choice of headgear is outstanding). And you can tell that they had more funny writing the little comedy and character bits then they did with actually moving the plot along. It sounds negative, but it's actually in the movie's favor. Makes it a bit more fun than most TV show retreads.

Acting wise, it seems like everyone's having a good time. Scott and Knoxville have a good rapport, and are well cast as the Duke boys. They have that wiseass charm about them, which makes them even more believable as troublemakers in the town. They're also a little bit looney, so you know problems are not gonna be solved by rational means. And let me tell you, I wanna hang out with Willie Nelson. Seriously. It's like he's not even in the movie, but decided to hang around. He just tells jokes. and throw bottles of moonshine, and smiles and has fun. Good use of him. (I may be WAY off, having grown up in Jersey, but is Moonshine still a problem in the world today? Why should anyone care that Jesse's making it? Weird).

Reynolds does a good job with Boss Hogg (even though, yes Boss Hogg was a plus sized individual, all you purists just get over it). He does have the explaining the dastardly plot the scene, but it's interrupted several times throughout in a way that's funny. (Again, the character work over the plot). M.C. Gainey is an actor I love, so I'm always happy to see him. And the Broken Lizard guys do their cameos well. Pretty much everyone is smiling along, and having fun.

Sadly, this brings me to the trend of a lot of summer movies: Casting obscenely hot girls named Jessica in big parts who aren't very good actresses but giving them skimpy clothing so you're too distracted to realize that. Sorry Jessica, you're gorgeous but you don't have much to do besides look pretty. Granted, this IS the Dukes of Hazzard, and not Shakespeare, so I'll give you a bit more credit than Alba or Biel. At least you KNOW it's not taken seriously. And damn, you did walk around half naked for a good amount of the flick, so you got that going for you.

Now, I mentioned before that there is more character work than usual. But don't let that fool you into thinking there aren't a whole lot of car chases and leaps off of things. This IS the Dukes of Hazzard. And man, those chases are FUN! It has a real wild feel going into them (remember I mentioned how Scott and Knoxville are a bit looney) and the chases are out of this world. And mostly practical effects work (unless the CG is THAT good) so you feel the heft of the cars. The movie has a real Smokey and the Bandit feeling. Hal Needham would be proud.

I should mention, when I was a very small child, I did enjoy the series to no end. I would ask my mom when The Duke boys would be coming on again. I had a toy General Lee. (And a toy Torino, from Starsky and Hutch. They'd race). But that was along time ago, and I haven't caught reruns or the DVD seasons. So I'm not one to compare it to the old show. I remember the characters, and I remember a lot of jumping cars. The one thing the movie has that gets it perfect in tone to the show is the freeze frames, with the narrator speaking. It made me smile. But I can't compare it to how someone who REALLY liked the show would react. I'm taking this film on it's own merit, and speaking divorced from the show it's based on. That being said, do not freak out when you first see the General Lee. It's not the General Lee you know and love so much. (The doors work). Have patience.

This isn't a movie that's going to change the world view on things. It won't make you ponder your existence or mortality. It won't challenge your mind and motivate you to do bigger and better things. It's just a movie meant to make you smile. And have a good time. And it succeeded. It's not as hurtful to your soul as The Island (or God help you, Stealth), but you should go in, turn your mind off, and just have fun. Enjoy some good car chases, and watch two goofs having a good ole time. And Willie Nelson getting high. Always fun.

A P.S. OF SORTS: Ok, so my roommate and I went to the midnight screening at the lovely and historic Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Now, you'd think that with a midnight show, they might want to tell their customers that the parking garage below the theater would close before the movie lets out, right? Doesn't that seem logical? Yes, but as I often learn, Hollywood is not a place for logic. (See movie about Evil Robot Plane). Yeah, so the car is still stuck in the underground garage, and we had to cab it back home. So we have the overpriced tickets, the cab fare, AND the exorbitant fee for parking in the garage overnight. That sucks, and to the Theater I say that YOU SUCK TOO! Warn your customers about this, jackasses. And because no one else cares about it, I'm just gonna bitch about it on my site here. What do you think about that? Losers. See if I come and see another movie there? (Big threat, I know)

For a more sane review, with a bit less ranting feel free to read Hakeems Dukes of Hazzard Review He does not self medicate near as much.