(andPOP) - There is one man that has single-handedly made it impossible to ever again produce a quality movie about a stuntman/stuntmen/stunts, and his name is Johnny Knoxville. If it weren't for Mr. Knoxville and his merry band of pain-bent pranksters, then it’s entirely possible that
Hot Rod would be roaringly hilarious--or at least substantially more enjoyable.
But unfortunately, watching what essentially amounts to watered-down versions of
Jackass hijinks, performed mainly by CGI, just doesn't cut it in a post-Knoxville entertainment world. Simply put, no one's actually getting hurt, and that ruins all the fun.
That being said,
Hot Rod isn't entirely without merit. The premise itself is ridiculous enough to garner a few laughs on its own. Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg) is an amateur stuntman who gets his kicks from performing--usually unsuccessfully--low-key feats with over-the-top theatrics on his motorbike. But when Frank, his stepfather (
Deadwood star Ian McShane), comes down with a heart condition, Rod is pushed to put his so-called skills to good use.
With his inept crew (played by SNLer Bill Hader, relative newcomer Danny McBride, and Jorma Taccone, a member of The Lonely Island comedy trio with Samberg and director Akiva Schaffer) in tow, Rod sets out to raise $50,000 for a transplant operation, mainly so that he might finally beat his step-dad senseless and assert his manhood.
Of course, hilarity ensues as one would expect, but much of it just isn't all that funny. Many of the gags are of the obviously-trying-to-be-random variety that so many writers have attempted after
Napoleon Dynamite pulled it off successfully. And too often,
Hot Rod subscribes to the
Family Guy technique of taking a joke and dragging it through about 30 seconds of repetition (think Peter Griffin's extended hissing after self-injury). But
Family Guy's generally starting off with A-material, while
Hot Rod is largely working with B-material--which, rather than getting funnier, just becomes grating.
There are some truly original bits of solid comedy (the combination of LSD and a belt grinder comes to mind), but it's not enough to save the movie from crashing on landing. And while Knoxville's made doing that into a big-money franchise, it's not the same with a script. Samberg's definitely got potential as an irreverent, young comedian, but
Hot Rod will likely fall by the wayside as he moves on to better creations.
