SYNOPSIS:
John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy
star in WILD HOGS, thhe hysterically funny comedy about four
weekend-warrior friends who decide to rev up their ho-hum
surburban lives with a cross-country motorcycle adventure.
They don their leathers, fire up their hogs and throw caution
and their mobile phones to the wind as they hit the open highway.
But a lot can happen on the road to nowhere including a run-in
with the bad-to-the-bone Del Fuegos, a real biker gang who
don't take kindly to the wannabes.
MOVIE REVIEW
Let’s
face it, city dwellers like you and I are a boring lot. Every
day, we commute from home to work and from work to home. And
when you reach middle age, the feeling gets worse and you
yearn for something new or a breakthrough in your life.
That
notion perhaps leads to the development of “Wild Hogs”,
one of this year’s surprise comedy hits in the States
although critics worldwide feel otherwise.
The
premise of “Wild Hogs” involves four middle-age
guys taking a bike trip to nowhere. John Travolta is Woody,
a fast-tempered lawyer whose supermodel wife has left him.
Tim Allen plays a small-town dentist whose life is utterly
boring (and his family members also finds him boring). Martin
Lawrence is a henpecked plumber-turned-writer and lastly William
H. Macy is the typical single lonely computer geek.
The
four leads are all familiar faces to audience and they each
have their fair share of funny bones (with the exception of
Macy but surprisingly he does contribute a couple of laughs
here). However, a good comedian needs a good solid script
to work on. “Wild Hogs” at some point fails to
deliver some of that aspect.
One:
The mystery of the missing punchline. A memorable scene which
involves the guys discussing a bag of poop during a campfire.
Everyone including the audience is equally enthusiastic about
the bag of poop. But what happens to the “bag of poop”
joke in the end? A seemingly unrelated fire incident kills
it.
Two:
Too many caricature characters. There’s the menacing
looking Ray Liotta who neither provide the laughs nor provide
the threats. He’s not even this close to the “cartoonish
villain” category. Joe Pesci was good in “Home
Alone”. He was funny, menacing and threatening. Now
that’s comedy. Ray Liotta obviously is in the wrong
movie. Marisa Tomei looks like she’s in for the paycheck
and catering, a throwaway love interest for Macy’s character.
Not to mention, Tichina Arnold as Lawrence’s wife, whose
sole purpose here is to be a human loudhailer.
The
only laugh-inducing role goes to John C. McGinley who hams
it up as a gay cop. I don’t want to sound like I’m
a homophobia but seeing McGinley trailing after the wild hogs
is a hoot.
It’s
pathetic when a movie has to rely on gay jokes to sit through.
Neither Travolta, Allen nor Lawrence delivers the lines to
tickle you. There are the occasional chuckles and an unnecessary
major explosion to jolt you.
“Wild
Hogs” serves to while away 99 minutes of your time over
the weekend but not enough to chase away your middle-age blues.
Nevertheless, if you are not expecting much, it might turn
out to be an inspiring trip. Beats spending time with your
mother-in-law.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
First up is the Audio Commentary with Director
Walt Becker and Writer Brad Copeland, an informative
track if you wish to know more behind-the-scenes anecdotes.
These 2 are not engaging talkers but come to think of it,
not everyone can be Anthony Robbins.
"Bikes,
Brawls and Burning Bars: The Making of Wild Hogs" is
the usual making of featurette which covers everything under
the sun. From the cast and crew interview to how the actors
are taught to ride the Harleys.
“How
To Get Your Wife To Let You Buy A Motorcycle” is
a silly three minutes featurette which featured the movie’s
stunt coordinator dispensing advice on how to tell your wife
biking-riding is safe. It’s meant to be tongue-in-cheek
but it’s not.
I
can tell you straight away this is a much better ending. At
least it’s a throwaway gag that works. Judge for yourself
in “Freewheeling Alternate Ending”.
“High-Octane
Deleted Scenes”. Someone should tell the marketing
guys it’s a sin to call them high-octane.
About
2 minutes of “Outtakes” are included
as well and a whole slew of Disney Trailers
round up this DVD.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
What can I say? The visuals are top-notch. The colours are
sharp and vibrant and the DD.5.1 soundtrack, which adds a
sense of realism to the ambience sounds of motorcycles revving
and rock music is impressive.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
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