Review - Hot Rod

Cathy: Why'd you call yourself Voltron?
Dave: I don't know. Maybe cause it's super badass!

That is not intelligent humour. That is not clever, insightful, satirical, or any other note of humour aimed at a higher level of thinking. But in the context of Hot Rod, that line is amazing. It is hilarious, and even furthered my thought pattern that Bill Hader is actually a creationist deity. This is a film so deprived of intelligence and injected with stupid jokes that one would feel their IQ had dropped a gazillion points by its conclusion. But you don't. You don't mind this stupidity, you revel in it, you cherish it, and you shall never again forget the true power of a taco (but only if it's prison rules). This is better than any Will Ferrell film out there, with the exception of maybe Blade of Glory, it is comedic gold, all set to the pumping soundtrack of 80s hair metal and glam rock and executed by the comedy trio now world famous for jizzing in their pants, being on a boat, doing things like a boss, liking sports or even seeing the Chronicles of Narnia. That's right, this is The Lonely Island's film. And it's amazing.

Hot Rod is a parody of all of the athlete films, you know the ones. Where the perseverance of the protagonist, in any given field, is pushed to the limit as they strive to reach their goal, to be respected, to be honoured, to be immortalized. In fact that sounds like all of those Will Ferrell sports films. Well, Hot Rod was supposed to be the next in line for Ferrell. But when he dropped out, the film was passed onto Andy Samberg for the main role, with a supporting role for Jorma Taccone and directing given to Akiva Schaffer. The Lonely Island now had control over a film. They made it their own. They made it hilarious. Oh, and the reason that our athletically-challenged hero perseveres in the film? To raise enough money to save his evil step-dad so he can finally win a fight against him. That's right. Bet you didn't see that coming.

In fact, that step-dad fight thing reminded me of Balls Out, an as-yet-unproduced screenplay by the collective Robotard 4000 (read the script here), in which one character fights his mentally handicapped manchild every night. Yeah, it's not PC. But it is hilarious, much like this film.

This is a film that, not unlike Anchorman for many, will forever be quoted when seen. Cool beans? You know that phrase? Watch this movie and it will never be the same. And I know a lot of people love the family guy Cool Whip scene. Guess who they took the joke from? That's right, Hot Rod. The creators of Family Guy saw the film and appropriated the Whiskey joke in this film, which was filmed almost a year before the Family Guy episode. That fact alone is a testament to how funny this film is.

You like 80s music? Do you? Well I love it, it is of course a guilty pleasure. I am a big fan of Def Leppard, I have four of their albums, so when any film uses songs like (I Just) Died In Your Arms et al, it had better be awesome. The Wrestler is an example of where hair metal was used perfectly. That film, which is the greatest film I have ever seen in a cinema, used it as a reflection of the protagonist's heyday, his age of heroics and reminds the audience of the tragic state of his current existence. Hot Rod is an example of the only other acceptable way to use trashy 80s music - when dancing like crazy, or being used in an epic montage sequence (the one in the film involves marching and a song well known to us Australians. That's all I'm gonna say, you will be blown away). Ever done a dance-punch routine in the forest to the sounds of Europe? Rod Kimble has!

This film reminded me of Sex Drive. Not in tone or anything, but just my perceptions before seeing it. I went into Sex Drive having seen and loved the trailer, yet being grossly disappointed after reading the first 30 pages of the screenplay floating around the internet. However, when I saw it, they had obviously done a polish of the script because the first 30min were hillarious and I ended up loving the film. Same with Hot Rod. After hearing that it was just as generic and derivative as many Will Ferrell films I steered clear of it, yet a passionate defence of it on a film forum led me to reconsider the film. So when I saw it at the local JB Hi-Fi for $10, I took a gamble. Thank God I did. This film is one of the better comedies I have seen, ready to take stabs at itself, at the nature of many films, including other comedies, and with a supporting cast that is just hilarious. I mean - Danny McBride has not let me down yet, he was the best thing in Pineapple Express and nearly stole the show in Tropic Thunder, and Ilsa Fisher was a great casting choice, she seems to be extremely well suited to comedies (Wedding Crashers etc.). Bill Hader, well, just re-read my intro. Then there's the Lonely Island guys themselves. Just Andy and Jorma had main roles in the film but they are both great. You can really see elements of their videos throughout the film, especially in the sublime Cool Beans sequence.

This movie is comedic gold. It may be dumb but it is a cult comedy if I have ever seen one. It shall be quoted, copied, treasured for many years to come. It gives me hope for an 80s resurgence (even though I was born in 1992) and only furthers my admiration for The Lonely Island. For the second review in a row, I shall leave you with a quote: I'm kinda grumpy today, dude. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I was having those dreams again. Ya know, how it's just me in a castle and I gotta fight, like, a thousand wizards and the only way to beat them is to punch them as hard as I can in their faces. Then, when I'm done, all their little wizard wives came out and wanted me to have sex with them - which is kinda weird. 4 stars.