Beerfest

MPAA Rated – R
It’s 1:50 Long
A Review by:
The Dude on the Right

Beerfest
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: Erik Stolhanske, Paul Soter, Jay Chandrasekhar, Steve Lemme , Kevin Heffernan, Philippe Brenninkmeyer
MPAA Rated: R
Released By: Warner Bros.
Kiddie Movie: Only if you want them to become beer drinking womanizers.
Date Movie: Only if she is a beer drinking womanizer.
Gratuitous Sex: Lots of gratuitous nudity and a bizarre sex scene.
Gratuitous Violence: Nah.
Action: Nah.
Laughs: Quite a few.
Memorable Scene: The destruction of Oktoberfest scene, especially since it led to lots of tops getting torn off.
Memorable Quote: Nothing stands out.
Directed By: Jay Chandresekhar

So there it was, 10:15 in the AM on Saturday, and I was this close to having a private screening of the latest film from the Broken Lizard boys, “Beerfest.” Then two more people came in for the 10:20 showing. From their chuckles and my chuckles, I think the three of us had an okay time at the movies. First the “Beerfest” story…

Todd (Erik Stolhanske) and Jan (Paul Soter) Wolfhouse are brothers. With the passing of their grandfather, they are given the task of taking his ashes back to Germany to the family resting place, and it has to be done during Oktoberfest. They are supposed to meet a man there who would take them to the location to spread the ashes, but they seem confused when the man leads them down a dark alley, and they find themselves at Beerfest, an underground competition of all things beer. While there they discover some family secrets, none too good it seems, and get humiliated at their renewed taste of beer competition. But back in the United States, they make a pact to return one year later and restore the family’s good name.

What to do? They have to assemble a beer-drinking team, and enlist folks they have known from their beer drinking primes. And so we get Landfill (Kevin Heffernan), the beer chugger; Fink (Steve Lemme), the science guy; and Barry (Jay Chandrasekhar), the king of the beer drinking games. And so our quintet of beer men begin their training, drinking mass quantities of beer, perfecting their beer drinking game skills, and finding out that Todd and Jan’s grandfather did steal the recipe for the world’s best beer (which they in turn begin serving at the restaurant), and that their grandmother is a whore.

Eventually tragedy strikes our team, but don’t worry, there are ways to get the team back together, and it is back to Germany where we are treated to competitions like “Mexican,” “The Long Pour,” “Speed Quarters,” “Beer Pong,” and my personal favorite, “Thumper.” Eventually our heroes face their German adversaries in the finals, and maybe get the family name back in the good graces of the German people.

The movie is silly fun, but that is exactly what you would probably expect from the “Super Troopers'” people, and come on, it’s a movie about a fictitious beer tournament that probably isn’t all that fictitious on college campuses everywhere, or at least won’t be fictitious anymore. The acting isn’t all that great, but do you really need great acting where most of the characters are supposed to be drunk most of the time? And you get the other things you might expect, like blatant nudity for no other reason than to just have it; a whacky sex scene; five dudes riding home on a tandem bicycle; bad German accents; good German accents; and a cameo by Willy Nelson.

In the end “Beerfest” wasn’t the greatest of films, but that’s okay. As I was telling The Dude on the Left about it, I pretty much explained that it wasn’t as good as “Super Troopers,” but not as bad as “Club Dread,” so I’m giving “Beerfest” 2 ½ stars out of 5. You will get pretty much everything you expect by seeing this movie, I can easily see myself getting sucked into this movie anytime it is on cable.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Club Dread

MPAA Rated – R
It’s 1:43 Long
A Review by:
The Dude on the Right

Club Dread
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Brittany Daniel, Bill Paxton, Jordan Ladd
MPAA Rated: R
Released By: Fox Searchlight
Release Date: 2004
Kiddie Movie: Only if you want them exposed to nudity, drugs, murder, and a bad comedy.
Date Movie: See “Kiddie Movie.”
Gratuitous Sex: Thankfully yes!
Gratuitous Violence: But it doesn’t look real.
Action: People get chased.
Laughs: Some, but not nearly as much as there could have been.
Memorable Scene: The nudity.
Memorable Quote: Coconut Pete: “That son of a, son of a bitch.”
Directed By: Jay Chandrasekhar

“Super Troopers” is one of those movies that when I come across it while scrolling through the cable channels, well, I usually end up staying for a spell. I enjoyed it and because of that I was looking forward to “Club Dread,” the latest installment from the Broken Lizard crew. Sadly, “Club Dread” didn’t fare as well for me in the comedy book.

In “Club Dread” we get the Broken Lizard folks, along with the likes of Bill Paxton (playing Coconut Pete), Jordan Ladd (Penolope), and Brittany Daniel (Jenny). Coconut Pete is running Pleasure Island, a getaway for those looking to drink a lot, do some drugs, and get laid, and for most of the guests, they’re getting their money’s worth. For the staff, however, things aren’t going too smoothly as they start to die, one by one. Who’s doing the killing, who can they trust, who will get laid, and can they stop the killer? Well, all of those questions get answered, but sadly not in a funny way.

Both The Dude on the Left and I agreed that the movie had a lot of potential. It had the poking fun at horror movie thing going (but nowhere near on the comedic level of “Scary Movie”), it had a good plot of making fun of Jimmy Buffett, it had a live version of Pac-Man, and it had some quality nudity, but they just couldn’t seem to put all of these things together. Oddly enough the storyline that really didn’t work for me was the poking fun at horror movie thing because I’m thinking it could have been a better movie focusing on the goofiness of Coconut Pete and his music, and just having wacky goings on at the club, maybe poking fun in a “Survivor” meets “Temptation Island”, on an island where you can drink a lot, do some drugs, and get laid.

This is definitely a wait for cable kind of movie, and even then, only in small doses. It has its moments, like when one of the guests asks Pete to play “Margaritaville” and Pete insists back that she wants to here “Pina Coladaburg” (get it?), and the live version of Pac-Man was pretty funny even without the gutting of the Pear. You do get some quality nudity but sadly that wasn’t enough to carry this movie.

In the end I’m giving “Club Dread” 1 star out of 5. It really had a lot of potential, but lost it somewhere trying to make too many jokes and trying to do what the “Scream” franchise already did.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!