SYNOPSIS:
Kicked out from jail days before the guard/inmate ball hockey final, Ricky (Robb Wells), Julian (John Paul Tremblay) and Bubbles (Mike Smith) return to Sunnyvale Trailer Park with a plan for The Big Dirty, the largest heist of their long criminal history: a dimwitted scheme to steal vast quantities of change -- since it's untraceable. As the day of the Big Dirty approaches, The Boys train less-than-able assistants Cory and Trevor. But before their plan can succeed, they will have to outrun helicopters, survive shootouts and face down drunken Trailer Park Supervisor Mr. Lahey and his cheeseburger-loving assistant Randy in a deadly game of Sunnyvale Chicken. Based on the hit TV Series.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Some movies which end up straight to DVD here would make you wonder why they weren't given a shot at the big screen, while others such as this one would make you think why anyone would bother with the DVD release at all. It's been some 10 years since the Trailer Park Boys burst onto the Canadian television screens and many more worldwide, and unless you're a fanboy, you're more than likely to find this movie unimpressive.
Think about social order chaos, as the anti-heroes of the franchise, and of this movie, are just comfortable in being bummed, getting drunk, smoking weed to get high, and with libidos that surprisingly seem to be more talk than action. Anyway one's supposed to be laughing at their antics, but somehow none seem to be working. You'll smile at a moment or two at some of the crazy antics, and some really sly punchlines that come out of nowhere, but its slapstick comedy more often than not falls flat on its face.
For the uninitiated, the Boys here refer to a bunch of ex-felons Ricky (Robb Wells) and Julian (John Paul Tremblay) who together with their best friend, Bubbles (Mike Smith, with that pair of insanely thick glasses) try to overcome adversary in their lives such as the Sunnyvale Trailer Park supervisor Lahey (John Dunsworth) and assistant Randy (Patrick Roach) who in this movie are plotting to get them evicted from their premises through some shady accounting. The trio also have to deal with Bubble's leaky shed of a house, Ricky's rift with his wife Lucy (Lucy Decoutere) who now works at a strip joint, and Julian (with drink perpetually in hand) trying to convince the rest into stealing coins which are largely harder to trace, rather than to do "The Big Dirty", which is a one-time high profile job likely to end them up in prison, which to Ricky isn't a bad deal because of his unfinished hockey league behind bars.
For the most parts you get to painfully watch how these three down and out folks talk lots of trash, complete with plenty of F-words and S-words, that are too trying, and being in premises that are unfunny. Unless complete irrelevance is your cup of tea, and watching how the characters here get their priorities all wrong are right up your alley in the comedy genre, this film is likely to bore from its insipid plot and themes, that make you roll your eyes and go "why bother" or "what's the point".
It may be a cult series in North America, but here's an example of how certain things don't translate too well outside their territories. There's nothing remarkable about the way the mockumentary is crafted, and unless you're really gungho into giving this a go, I'd recommend that you don't give these boys a chance, unless you enjoy watching an irrelevant show with irrelevant characters talking about irrelevant stuff while doing irrelevant jobs.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains no extra features.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The visuals are transferred in anamorphic widescreen format, but it seemed to be deliberately grainy, given the mockumentary style adopted, and after all it's supposed to be low budgeted given the backgrounds of these folks. For those who cannot stand watching a film where the camera is not mounted on a tripod, you have been warned. Nothing fantastic about the audio that will stretch that surround sound home theatre system though.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Stefan Shih
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