Strange Wilderness DVD

...the trailer then it's for Strange Wilderness, the latest movies from Happy Madison studios. I remember having seen the trailer earlier in the year, thinking I might really enjoy this; the reality however was few laughs, and poorly cut together movie that annoyed me while trying to be funny.

Peter Gaulke (Steve Zahn) inherits his father's nature orientated TV show Strange Wilderness, he effectively ruins it narrating excitement over ...
...the X-Files.

Strange Wilderness is awfully tired, there is an elongated scene in which our drug addict film-makers take the mickey out of someone called Dick, and it goes on and on and on. Then a scene when a turkey swallows Zahn's manhood getting it jammed in its throat. And the only bit that really made me laugh, the laughing shark.

There is a fair amount of harsh death and general mauling, a group of people get half ... more

If ever there is an example of all the good stuff being in the trailer then it's for Strange Wilderness, the latest movies from Happy Madison studios. I remember having seen the trailer earlier in the year, thinking I might really enjoy this; the reality however was few laughs, and poorly cut together movie that annoyed me while trying to be funny.

Peter Gaulke (Steve Zahn) inherits his father's nature orientated TV show Strange Wilderness, he effectively ruins it narrating excitement over animals having sex and filming things he really should not be seeing. When studio Head Ed Lawson (Jeff Garlin) decides it's time to pull the plug on the show, Peter decides to hunt down a big story ; that's when long lost family friend Bill (Joe Don Baker) turns up, he claims to know the location of mythological beast Bigfoot.

As you no doubt could tell by my opening comments I was majorly unimpressed with this offering, I won't deny there were moments when I did laugh, but the majority of it was sad stoner (drug) jokes, farting, and comments about thongs that frankly a five year old could come up with. The only times I did really laugh were where the joke was so stupid I really could not understand how they made the movie. But then thinking back the movie stars Steve Zahn who while he did appear in some good movies also appeared in the awful Freak Talks About Sex.

What amuses me most (though not in a laughing manner) is the fact that the movie has some real onetime A-listers in its cast, Joe Don Baker best known from the James Bond Movies and Psycho, plays a deluded conspiracy theorist. While the great Ernest Borgnine stars as crewman Milo, Borgnine recently turned 91 and stated he wanted to reach his target of 200 movies before he died; I tell you know this actor looks 65 if that, it's wonderful how well this actor is doing for his age (maybe he is lying about his date of birth). Even with Borgnine's target clearly planted in his mind you really have to ask why he would want to be associated with something like this, the same applies to Baker.

The casting itself is familiar Grandma's Boy star Alan Covert plays 80's inspired Fred, Jeepers Creepers Justin Long (complete with tattoos on his eyelids of you guessed it his eyes), and Superbad's Jonas Hill as Cooker a brain dead drug influenced idiot, for want of a better term. Also along for the ride is Harry Hamlin from L.A. Law, Veronica Mars and soon Heroes, and Robert Patrick from Terminator 2 and the X-Files.

Strange Wilderness is awfully tired, there is an elongated scene in which our drug addict film-makers take the mickey out of someone called Dick, and it goes on and on and on. Then a scene when a turkey swallows Zahn's manhood getting it jammed in its throat. And the only bit that really made me laugh, the laughing shark.

There is a fair amount of harsh death and general mauling, a group of people get half cannibalised, while an old man is eaten by piranhas; while the crews cameraman disguised as a sea-lion is eaten by a shark. The blood ratio is quite high for this sort of movie, and I found myself strangely reminded of Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life, I'd say that the half of the jokes not stolen from Cheech and Chong movies possibly came straight out of Monty Python too.

But what I found most annoying of all about the movie was the increasing amount of unexplained factors. There is a lot of poor editing that leaves you to believe more often than not that the crucial joke is left lying on the cutting room floor, often a build up to an event appears with the expected punch line missing, is this some new level of humour I miss out on. There are lots of tedious repetitive elements too, Cooker hitting a man in the groin, was not funny the first time, but a third or fourth? While Zahn's terrible impersonation of a Mexican works once, but actually offends after that. Even a body cavity search scene that is designed to generate laughs is almost cut in half; so the punch line is never reached.

On the plus side I laughed my head off at the laughing shark, but this was shown in the trailer, and is pretty much the only proper laugh of the movie, and this is almost inspired from the oldest comedy tricks in movie history, put a funny comment on a piece of old film.

When Strange Wilderness had finished I was happy, this was a dull and boring movie interaction I'd not recommend, even to my worst enemy. If you're offended by sexual reference, fart jokes, or racism then this movie is unlikely to be for you either.

Strange Wilderness sneaked through UK cinemas overnight and is due on DVD in September.

Spencer Hawken 05/08 

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