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Starsky & Hutch
(2004)
Dir. Todd Phillips
Wow, was I in for a treat when I watched this gem. Big screen remakes of 70’s sitcoms have given us “modern kids” a chance to enjoy some bellbottom antics that we otherwise would have missed out on. With a star-studded cast lead by Ben Stiller (Starsky) and Owen Wilson (Hutch), this film calls to all who are ready to be launched into ha-ha arcadia.
The stage is set right after you are introduced to the dynamic duo. Stiller is an uptight cop who serves the law to the utmost. Wilson is a laid back cop who just wants to take it easy. Let’s pair them together! Holy, freaking-f! Where did they get that idea? It’s awesome!
As the film builds up momentum with a prodigious and inexhaustible stream of jokes we meet Huggy Bear played by rapper Snoop Dogg. Why isn’t this man in more movies? His acting is absolutely awe-inspiring (except that it is bad and I don’t care for it much at all). In the 90’s he popularized the alcoholic drink “gin and juice” and taught us that "endo" is the best marijuana to smoke. Now, in 2004, he is stupefying audiences with his rigmarole on the big screen. Boy how the times change. Speaking of change, let’s not forget the antagonist, a villainous drug dealer named Reese Feldman, played by Vince Vaughn. Let me tell you straight up: this is not the Vaughn of old. Long gone is the quick-witted fun time swinger who gave a fairly decent vocabulary base to a generation of young hipsters. To make sure you’re not confused, the character displays his wrathfulness early so you don’t cry when/if he gets busted. How? One, he has a moustache. Two, he kills guys that loose his coke and doesn’t even care about it. Three, he never says “that’s money,” “hey, you are money tonight,” or “sexy babies for me and for you that are money.” F that guy! I kept thinking throughout the whole film: you are sooooo busted in 70 minutes. So what about the plot? Basically, Starsky and Hutch somehow must find the bad guy through a tangled web of ridiculous humor, mishaps and total babes. If you were smart enough to figure out how to operate the DVD player you can see the jokes coming from a mile away. The real mystery I’ll leave you with is this; can the two cops see through their differences to form a law enforcement juggernaut (like Robocop but with less buffoonery) and a possible lasting friendship in 90 minutes?
On a personal level after seeing this film I really wished that Owen Wilson was my bro, that guy would be awesome to do the “what’s up” thing with.
Modern day filmmakers have somehow managed to take their non-creativity to a whole new level, much the same as Puff Diddy does with music. If you have lost your creative go ahead and take an idea that has already been done, inject a bunch of your own non-creative and you will have teens and adults alike reiterating phrases like “do it, do it” until the Knight Rider movie comes out. I personally can’t wait till I’m 40 and I see the remake of Wayne’s World.
Grade D+; wait to spend your money on the remake of Wayne’s World (hopefully staring our friend Wayne).
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