- Introduction -

I read about Hot Rod on Amazon and though I'd never heard of it before, I saw that it got good user reviews and was apparently a very funny slapstick movie about a stuntman, which sounded interesting, so I thought I'd add it to my rental list and I watched it last night. This is what its about and what I thought of it.

- Main Credits (non-actors, which are mentioned further on in the review) -
Source:- IMDB (see:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0787475/fullcredits)

Director - Akiva Schaffer
Writer - Pam Brady
Associate producer - Erin David
Co-Producers - Seth Myers, Louise Rosner
Executive Producers - Will Ferrell, Jill Sobel Messick, Jimmy Miller
Producer - John Goldwyn, Lorne Michaels
Cinematography - Andrew Dunn

- Story (incl. main acting cast) -

Hot Rod tells the story of Rod Kimble (played by Andy Samberg), who's a sort of do it yourself stuntman. When he gets the sad news that his less than nice stepfather, Frank Powell (played by Ian McShane) is suffering from a heart condition and needs an operation, he decides to prove to him that he's no loser but that he is indeed a true macho stuntman, by putting on his biggest stunt yet - that being to jump over fifteen buses in a motorcycle and raise money for his operation while doing so. He's encouraged by his step brother and friend, Kevin Powell (played by Jorma Taccone) and a friend of his who he rather fancies, called Denise (played by Isla Fisher), among others.

Will he succeed in his jump or will he injure himself or worse? will he manage to raise the money he needs to help Frank and, perhaps more importantly, will Frank be able to be proud of Rod and see him as the macho, butch stuntman that Rod so desperately wishes to be seen as? will Rod get the girl? well, yup, you guessed it, you'll have to watch the movie to find out.

- Genre/Themes/Issues -

This is very much a slapstick comedy with elements of spoof, I feel. It covers the themes or issues of companionship and identity, of proving your worth and of all that sort of thing (sorry im not so good at coming up with much stuff under this heading, maybe I should stick to it just being genre? I dont know).

- Thoughts/Opinions/Extra Information -

This is a slapstick comedy that is quite exaggerated or 'out there' but also its quite good, I thought.

I think in a way its a piss take on family or teen dramas, its certainly pretty over the top, with, for example, the stuffy middle aged sponsor of the big stunt having a crazy rebellious tattoo, which should make you laugh, in a 'well thats random and not what you'd expect' kind of a way. Also adding to the over the top-ness of it is the fact that, at points in the movie, it bursts into music, turning into a musical before suddenly cutting back to regular dialogue, so it is a bit surreal in that way.

It contains some of the usual elements of such a teen drama movie I guess, such as the hot girl (Denise, played by Isla Fisher (yes, its nice to know there is a fellow Isla in the acting business! lol) and the less than nice stepfather (Frank, played by Ian McShane), who Rod has to prove his worth to and so on.

The character of Rod reminds me alot of JD from the US sitcom Scrubs, in the way that he talks and Andy Samberg looks a bit like him too, I think.

Isla Fisher was a good choice for playing Denise, I think, too, as she plays the stereotyped blonde 'hot chick' type role quite well I guess.

Expect plenty of over exaggerated scenes, some slapstick and a sort of retro feel to the movie, which it clearly has (although it doesn't appear to be set then as CDs are used but from the stunt costumes and the music played in the background and other things, I thought it had quite a late 70s or 80s 'feel' to it).

This is pretty zany and daft and I feel a bit of a spoof on other more serious teen movies and it does well as this. There's also a similarity to the 'Karate Kid' movies (again with the 70s feel to it), with scenes involving Rod doing Tai Chi and getting to know his more spiritual side, thanks to Denise.

- Certificate -

Hot Rod is rated 12 in the UK. This is due to some crude humour and language used, some violent content (given the whole stuntman story, there are some scenes of past stunts which didn't go entirely favourably, put it that way! the violence is not really all *that* graphic though) and there is also some drug related scenes, where Rod has to give a friend of his a lift to the hospital, as he has taken some acid and says some, well peculiar things!. Otherwise there isn't much to offend people, there's no sex or nudity present, the violence isn't very graphic, I'd say that this movie should be fine for young teenagers upwards.

- Official Website -

The official website for Hot Rod can be found here:-

http://www.hotrodmovie.com/

Here you'll find information about the movie, some videos and a photo gallery, a sort of drawing game (Line Rider), where you draw out a line and he rides on it, a link to a fan club (which consists of a membership card and signed photo that you can print off to become a 'member' of said apparently fake fan club) and downloads (wallpapers, buddy icons and banners).

As ever, this is a flash based site, so always be aware it'll take a while to load pages from the site on any slow internet connection and you can download the latest version of Flash through the Macromedia website.

- Conclusions -

This is a pretty daft and silly movie but it is also pretty entertaining. Don't expect a masterpiece as its not really like that but it is pleasant and amusing enough for the length of the movie (about an hour and twenty five minutes). Its just about the right length, if it were to be too long it would probably grate a bit but it was a good length, I felt and I thought that Andy Samberg did quite well in his role as Rod, he has the right sort of look for the character and played the character with all his over exaggerated uh ness, quite well.

This film is worth watching, if it sounds like its something you'd enjoy, that you'd find it funny then you probably will, certainly the other reviews ive seen for it have all been positive, so yes I do recommend it. Its good for a laugh!

I hope that this review is useful and thanks, as always, for reading!