The original plan was to review a nice, intelligent, complex, thought-provoking movie this week.

Broken Flowers, starring Bill Murray came out this week, and it had infinite promise of being exactly such a movie. Judging from the trailers, it looks smart, funny, and subtle, and it won the Grand Prix at Cannes.

However, for reasons beyond my control, I?m reviewing The Dukes of Hazzard this week instead.

The truth is that I kind of wanted to see The Dukes anyway, and when Curtis and Ian, two farm boys I know, told me that I had to write about it, I agreed.

(Incidentally, on their way into Toronto, Curtis got pulled over by the police for speeding, and Ian got pulled over because his car appeared unsafe to drive ? the handbrake didn?t work and one of the taillights was broken. If anyone would know about the Dukes of Hazzard, it would be these guys.)

The Dukes of Hazzard is a remake of an early 1980s TV show about two hillbillies from Alabama, Bo and Luke Duke, who basically just drive around in their 1969 Dodge Charger named General Lee, drinking moonshine and making trouble for the law.

Johnny Knoxville (the charismatic star of Jackass) and Sean William Scott (Stifler from American Pie) star as the Duke boys, with Jessica Simpson, Burt Reynolds, and Willie Nelson rounding out the cast.

All told, I really liked it, and if I may, I would like to make my case for why this is actually a great movie.

First of all, let?s be blunt, at least half of the reason to see this movie is Jessica Simpson playing Daisy Duke.

I will be the first to admit that Jessica Simpson is a pitiful excuse for an actress, and she?s an even worse singer, but neither of those qualities really matter when it comes to her portrayal of Daisy Duke.

Her talent ? and I use that word loosely ? is very much on display and it seems that during a couple of scenes she?s wearing a bikini under her clothes for the sole purpose of shaking her body and getting what she wants from men.

I realize that pretty much every woman I?ve talked to about Jessica Simpson despises her with impressive fervor.

I can understand this; those women who don?t hate her simply because they?re threatened by her, hate her because they don?t understand why guys salivate over her.

That being said, this role is practically an admission by Simpson that she?s trailer trash, a sex object, and nothing but a dumb, hickish blond.

Going beyond Simpson, The Dukes has a lot to offer.

I?m a sucker for classic muscle cars, so watching the chase scenes with the General Lee sliding around corners and jumping over creeks really got me excited.

But I think what really makes this adaptation work is that the casting is perfect.

Johnny Knoxville and Sean William Scott are about as white trashy as it gets, and while Burt Reynolds is neither as short nor as fat as the original Hazzard county villain Boss Hogg, he wears the role perfectly.

The bottom line is that this movie isn?t particularly smart, and it?s pretty much just an excuse for car chases, explosions, and scantily clad women.

That being said, that?s pretty much all the TV show was.

I would be moaning and complaining that it was an unfaithful adaptation if there had been symbolism, subtlety, and complex character development.

As it stands, The Dukes of Hazzard is exactly as advertised, and a surprisingly faithful adaptation of the original TV show.

I still want to see Broken Flowers, but I?m glad the farm boys made me see The Dukes instead.

Y?all go see it, y?hear?






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