DVD Review - Wild Hogs

Director: Walt Becker
Studio:  Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
Rating: PG-13

My husband and I had really been looking forward to this movie. Oscar caliber cast: William H. Macy, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, Tim Allen, Ray Liotta and Marisa Tomei and fun plot idea made this movie sound like a winner. Sadly we were disappointed.

The “fun plot” was razor thin. It paraded itself as a buddy movie, but the four buddies were held together by vague references to college and little else. I had a hard time understanding their real connection, and I didn’t feel any chemistry between the characters. I knew going into the movie that there would be a healthy helping of “guy” humor, but I was uncomfortable with much of the subject matter. There was an under current of homosexual phobia/acceptance jokes, and one of the bad guys makes a few jokes that were so perverted that I nearly turned the movie off.

In the end, the large problem of the movie is resolved by bringing in a new character that simply makes it go away and the heroes of the film none the wiser. While it tries to imply that the four men have grown and matured because of their trip there is little evidence to support it.

As for that all-star cast, the characters were one-dimensional and forgettable. I don’t know if it was the lack luster plot or if they just weren’t trying. But, I found myself recalling their past work as I was watching this one. As I watched, I wondered how actors who had delivered roles like the complicated gangster Henry Hill in Goodfellas, or the longsuffering Mona Lisa Vito in My Cousin Vinny, or the desperate and inept car salesman Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo, etc. could have delivered such blah performances for this film. The truth is they just don’t seem to care. On the other hand they weren’t cast in this film for their acting chops, but merely for their names, and its very apparent they know it.

Bad writing, mediocre directing, and phoned in performances, topped with inappropriate language, and disgusting innuendos make for a movie that I would NOT recommend.

Purchase Wild Hogs (Widescreen Edition).

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