Home Media Magazine - March 2-8, 2008 - (Page 18) REVIEWS I BACHELOR PARTY 2: THE LAST TEMPTATION Street 3/11 Of course the very decent Ron fully intends to emerge from the situation with his morals and his conscience Fox, Comedy, $26.98 DVD, Available in ‘R’ and unrated versions. intact. However, he and his friends are accompanied by Stars Josh Cooke, Sara Foster, Greg Pitts, Warren Christie, Danny Jacobs, Melinda’s brother Todd (Christie), who fears that the Emmanuelle Vaugier, Harland Williams. new groom will take his place as next in line to inherit the family’s lucrative business. early 25 years after the first film, Ron is consistently forced into steamy situations Bachelor Party 2 is not only bewhere he somehow manages to foil plot after plot ing happily dropped on conof his scheming brother-in-law-to-be, who tries sumers, but it is landing solidly and to sabotage the groom’s reputation and test his successfully in place among all of the fidelity. other contemporary entries into the The film feels totally at home alongside all of same category — the usually unratthe newer films in a neo-genre that began with ed, raunchy, gross-out celebrations of the Farrelly Brothers and the never-ending debauchery and hedonism. “American Pie” franchise. In a perfect world, In a film where the title essentially it should find an audience because, believe sums up the story, the questions are it or not, it is genuinely very funny and really more about quantity and quality. really pretty good. – David Greenberg BP2 delivers on all counts and then some. The ridiculously attractive Ron and Melinda (Cooke and Foster) decide to get hitched, inspiring pals from both camps to send their affianced friends off with a bang. The film allows for an extra celebration by beginning with a coed engagement party that allows his friends (led by the gloriously overthe-top scene stealing of comedian Harland Williams) to mix with hers. The storyline soon splits off into hisand-her parties, with the guys heading to a resort while the ladies hang out at home. N I THE SASQUATCH GANG Street 3/18 Universal/Screen Media, Comedy, B.O. $0.009 million, $24.98 DVD, ‘PG-13’ for crude humor and language. Stars Justin Long, Jon Heder, Jeremy Sumpter, Carl Weathers, Jon Gries, Joey Kern. W hile the combination of rednecks, geeks and Bigfoot might not automatically seem like a recipe for a film that manages to be both endearing and uproariously funny, the cinematic chefs behind Sasquatch Gang have concocted a perfect formula. Set in an unnamed rural town noticeably marked by a lack of contemporary staples such as DVDs (the local video store carries only VHS), the temptation to have been more meanspirited and poke fun at “backwoods” culture might have been strong, and it is to the credit of writer-director Tim Skousen (who worked on Napoleon Dynamite) that the tone of this film is ultimately so affectionate and, for the most part, respectful. When Gavin Gore (Sumpter) and his nerdy friends think they have found evidence of Bigfoot in the woods near their town, it attracts attention from the media and a neighborhood cop, as well as a pair of seriously dim-witted locals — the magnificently mullet-headed Zerk (Long) and his mumbling, consistently shirtless buddy Shirts (Kern), who scheme to capitalize on the assumed presence of a significant cultural icon in their own town. Weathers shows up playing wildly against type in a revelatory hilarious performance as Bigfoot expert Dr. Artimus Snodgrass. Director Skousen’s sure hand and clear vision are aided by a solid cast and stylistic flourishes including sequences that begin with comic book-inspired graphics. Much like Napoleon Dynamite, the film revels gloriously in its celebration of low culture. Deliriously grotesque but never completely misanthropic, the film is actually an affectionate recollection of rural youth, depicting small-town America as a place where the passions of residents are fueled by corn dogs, non-stop television, private home video collections, Clash of the Titans and vintage Firebirds. It’s not that far off from the scenario depicted in Stand By Me, but much funnier. – David Greenberg 18 Home Media Magazine March 2–8, 2008 http://www.indicanpictures.com
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