Greetings again from the darkness. Admittedly, I am not much into slapstick comedy. However, this brilliant spoof of the TV series and the 70's in general had me laughing, or at least smiling, most of the time. Director Todd Phillips ("Old School") has assembled a wonderful comedic cast and benefits greatly from the tremendous chemistry between Ben Stiller and (Dallas' own) Owen Wilson. At times the movie is mixture of "Lethal Weapon" and "Dumb and Dumber", but rarely does it drift too far. Fans of the series will recognize many of the classic shots and lines, and will definitely laugh out loud at Stiller's over-the-top Starsky! Also fabulous is Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear. Brilliant casting and some terrific posing and one-liners has the Dogg stealing his scenes. Comedy genius Vince Vaughn is perfect as the smug drug dealer who thinks our heroes are clowns - especially while in mime mode. Hilarious moments with Carmen Electra and usually dramatic Amy Smart ("Outside Providence" "The Butterfly Effect") as cheerleaders and dates for S & H ... or maybe just Hutch! Will Farrell has a funny gag as a convict whom the boys interrogate through the glass. No hints here, but it is laugh out loud funny. Fred "The Hammer" Williamson perfectly captures Capt. Doby's "Jesus Christ!" line and everyone got a kick out of getting to see David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser (the originals) show up towards the end. The only real weakness was Juliette Lewis, who just seemed totally out of place in every one of her scenes. Overall this one delivers some classic film comedy scenes and lines and is a wonderful tribute to the god-awful music, cars and wardrobes of the 70's.
Review of Starsky & Hutch
