Movie Review: Wild Hogs

So I'm potentially embarrassed admitting that I saw this movie. I saw it as it was the only movie that fit into the available time but ended up being pretty decent. Overall, it was an above average low-browish comedy with some mediocre writing, decent gags, and good concepts.

What certainly carried the movie was its acting. If you're not aware, some how this movie managed to get the cast of John Travolta, Tim Allen, William H Macy, Martin Lawrence, Ray Liotta, Marissa Tomei, and Peter Fonda. With a different cast this movie probably would have been terrible. Travolta was very good, as was Macy expectedly. Surprisingly very good was Ray Liotta who pulled off a crazed biker gang leader for much of the 2nd half of the movie.

Now, I don't mean to kid anybody. The movie was a cheap comedy. Most of the stuff I didn't find laugh out loud funny (putting me in a minority within the theater) as it was birds (or bird shit) flying into the actors faces, and seeing a bull launch Tim Allen into the air. As much as I knew they were all cheap stunts you kind of got caught up in it all by the end, and were ready to embrace the movie as just a gag comedy. Definitely don't go run out and see the movie, but if you've got nothing to do, it will entertain you for an hour and a half.

I've developed an interesting theory on this movie after seeing it. I was genuinely confused before and after why the cast agreed to do this kind of movie, and some have such minor parts in it. My theory, completely without founding or evidence is that either most or all of the actors are friends with the writer/director so agreed to have bit parts. Second, that its some kind of backlash from the what I'll call the "Self-Declared Cool Kids in Hollywood Ocean's Eleven Crowd". Maybe these guys felt left out from making those kind of big ensemble movies and wanted to play to a different interest and demographic by making their own movie.

Either way, was surprised on the upside by Wild Hogs.