Das turbogeile Gummiboot

As far as low budget, cheesy movies go, Up The Creek is decent. I will not attempt to suggest that it is a great movie, but it has it's moments.Tim Matheson is entertaining, though he is playing a character not too far removed from Otter of Animal House. A good flick for a lazy, brainless afternoon.

"Up the Creek" is a glorious entry in that genre known as the 1980s sex comedy. It's actually pretty funny at times, thanks to good gags in the script by Jim Kouf ("Stakeout"). It's got gorgeous gals (and bare breasts), likable heroes, priceless villains, and some very nice wilderness scenery. You really can't ask for anything more.

Some aging graduates of "Porky's" and "Animal House" play our leads, a bunch of indolent guys goofing their way through their protracted life at college. It turns out, they're the worst college students in the entire U.S. of A.! Their angry Dean (John Hillerman in a quick cameo) says that he will give them degrees PROVIDED that they win an all-important inter collegiate raft race that the Dean hopes will earn some respect for his place of higher learning.

Led by amiable lady's man Bob McGraw (Tim "Otter" Matheson), our heroes do battle with some cheating, conniving preppies (among them Jeff East of "Superman: The Movie") and some military school cadets commandeered by a vengeance minded nut (Blaine Novak) angry over being disqualified from the race.

Also along for the ride are Dan "Pee Wee" Monahan, Stephen "Flounder" Furst, lovely Jennifer Runyon ("Ghost Busters"), James Sikking ('Hill Street Blues'), Julia Montgomery ("Revenge of the Nerds"), and Jeana Keough ("The Beach Girls"). However, it's Jake the dog who easily steals the movie, especially in a delicious scene of charades. (You can tell that the dog is actually voiced by a human actor, in this case Frank Welker.) The movie opens brightly, as someone tries in vain to silence a chattery bird, and delivers enough titillation and, ultimately, outright destruction, to rate as a good time. It's hard to go wrong when the rocking title theme song is belted out by Cheap Trick. Everything is (mostly) comfortably predictable, and easy to take.

Eight out of 10.

Sophomoric humor taken to the limit by Animal House alums Matheson and Furst as college misfits on a white water rafting race in the hope of bringing glory to their mediocre university. Slapstick gags, goofy all around...but good fun.

Sometimes the planets align and everything just comes together. Some likable but underused actors join up with a veteran (and really really old) director to film a script written by the author of some minor league films. This is the sort of recipe that more often than not ends up with a mediocre movie that is instantly forgettable but for whatever reasons They ended up producing one of the funniest teen comedies ever made.

A group of loser college students played by an all star collection of teen sex comedy stars including Tim Matheson and Stephen Furst from Animal House, Dan Monahan from Porky's and Sandy Helberg from History of the World Part 1 who,having their arms twisted by a corrupt Dean played by John Hillerman, agree to enter a dangerous raft race with the promise that victory will bring them un-earned degrees.

Excessive drinking, fart jokes and gratuitous nudity are just some of the pleasures that this movie provides for the viewer. It also features the smartest dog in the world (he does charades), a kick ass song by Cheap Trick and the gorgeous Jennifer Runyon (ghostbusters & Charles in charge, I don't know which credit is more impressive) along with some great race footage and hilarious dialog. This movie is simply much better than it has the right to be.

All the people who complain that it is stupid miss the point. Of course it is stupid. Its moronic. Its dumb as dirt. It is also hysterically funny from start to finish. This movie reminds me in many ways of Weekend at Bernies another incredibly goofy movie that if approached in the wrong mood is virtually unwatchable. To avoid injury try not to think. Just sit back and let this movie wash over you.

This film is one of those 80's comedies that were very popular and paved the way for later college/fraternity films. Tim Matheson stars as Bob, who leads a ragtag group of guys who overcome great obstacles to win the race at the end. The script is tacky and often so bad in its attempt to be funny i.e. the dog that uses body language to communicate with the guys that one of their friends is being held captive by the enemy without any clothes, even using liver as Japanese for river, the silly and slapstick comedy among the army guys that are conveniently close enough to the river to blow things up, "The Revenge Of The Nerds" style rivalry between jocks and suite and tie yuppies with the casual, average guys and Tim Matheson and the leading girl who plays his love interest repeating the same lines each time they have sex: was it good for you as it was for me? The cinematography is not spectacular, the acting is not superior, it just makes you feel good I don't think movies are not supposed to be mind engaging, just a break from reality. This just has a good feeling for every underdog that was trying to do the right thing and never got the recognition they deserved. I think there is a lot of clever/sarcastic wit and dialog like that throughout the movie... perhaps why not everyone got it... it was a lot more than T & A and relied more on comic timing than nudity. This film is filled with hilarious dialogue, great raft scenes and lots of funny moments. Chuck the dog is amazing!

Overall rating: 7 out of 10.