Starsky & Hutch

The tale of two oddball police detectives who have a habit of getting stuck in awkward situations even with the best of intentions. Starsky (Ben Stiller) is very much by-the-book – embarrassingly so – whereas Hutch has a laid back rather ‘hippy' approach to the rules. One of the films great strengths is that it plays on satire and keeps the action secondary. The two main characters are ably aided and abetted by Huggy Bear (Snoop Dogg) and, although there is a big-drugs-bust plotline, the movie's main intention seems to be to make a homage to the style and clichés of certain 70s filmmaking (and the original TV show); car chases, for instance, focus on tongue-in-cheek action rather than adrenalin, and the cops' love of empty-headed curvaceous women combined with a homophobia towards each other and gay men is portrayed laughingly as an echo of the attitudes of the times rather than appealing to those sentiments. Not the sort of comedy I expected to enjoy so much personally, but I quickly warmed to this movie and found the feelgood factor continued unabated till the end.

Ben Stiller had four movies come out in six months and this one was the best. He teamed up with Owen Wilson and together they make a very funny team. Based on the popular 70's action show of the same name, Starsky and Hutch re teams Detectives David Starsky and Ken Hutchinson, this time played by long-time buddies Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. This "prequel" to the television show presents the origins of their long running partnership, as they are thrown together on a case involving a shady entrepreneur (Vince Vaughn). Stiller makes up for Envy and brings out the laughs with a great cast. I never saw the series but I am willing to bet that the movie is a lot better and this is more of a parody of the series. The story was funny sure it was nothing new but they still make it work. Stiller and Wilson have a great backup cast in this including Vince Vaughn, Amy Smart, Jason Bateman, Juliette Lewis and Carmen Electra. They all bring humor into the movie and they play their roles well. Snoop Dog played his role decently but they could have found someone else to play Huggy Bear. Todd Phillips directs and he has made some funny comedies in the past including Old School and Road Trip. Vince Vaughn has moved on from being a serious actor to being a comedian and the transition worked in Old School and it works in this movie. The film is 100 minutes long so its hard to put in enough jokes to sustain its running time but for the most part the film is pretty entertaining. Rating 7/10 I recommend you see this movie if your looking for a good comedy or if your a fan of any of the stars.

STARSKY & HUTCH

I had seen this film for sale in my local DVD shop so cheap that I had to buy it. Everyone I had spoken to that had seen it had told me that this film was terrible. Every review I had read about it says it is really bad… but my attitude towards it was "How bad can it be?". The truth is… I actually quite enjoyed it.

The movie is based on an old TV show of the same name. 2 police officers are forced to work with each other, but they are both completely different to each other. They are trying to hunt down a drug dealer that has some cocaine in his possession that is completely undetectable. Not even the police dogs can smell it.

The comedy in this movie is not great. I laughed out loud once throughout the entire movie. But that is not to say it was not funny. There were a few moments in the film that made me smile and I thought were entertaining. I do wish it was funnier though. The story was quite good, but nothing we have not seen a million times before in buddy cop movies.

The action as really good in places. The car chases were really good and the stunts reminded me of watching the classic TV shows that I loved as a kid, Knight Rider and the Dukes of Hazzard. It was great to see the old red Gran Torino with the white stripe along the side. I love that car… I don't really remember it from TV as I never watched the show, but I know the car. During the credits at the end, you can see some of the car stunts that go wrong during filming. These are awesome, but it is a shame to see the lovely cars getting smashed up.

I like the actors in this movie. The film stars Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. These guys are funny guys, but sometimes it just doesn't work. I thought Ben played his part well and Owen played his part well too, but for some reason the chemistry between them both felt like something was missing. I could not imagine them as partners and even after watching them for 90 minutes, I still didn't really see them as partners. But nonetheless, they both did well and I enjoyed watching them. There were a lot of other famous faces in this film that I didn't know were in it… Snoop Dogg, Fred Williamson, Vince Vaughn, Juliette Lewis, Jason Bateman, Amy Smart, Carmen Electra and Chris Penn. Also I loved the cameo at the end from the original Starsky & Hutch, David Soul & Paul Michael Glaser from the TV show. I loved it and thought it was a great ending to the film.

OK, so the film as a whole was not brilliant, the comedy was not up to par and the acting was not great in places, the story could have been better too but this was still really entertaining. It did not deserve the bashing by all the reviewers that it took.

I will give this film 7 out of 10.

"A floater. Nothing harder to solve than a floater. No prints, body's usually bloated, it's next to impossible. All right, I say we push it out and hope the current pushes it down to the next precinct."

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Continuing the recent success of comedies starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughan et al "Starsky and Hutch" is an immensely creative, though sometimes annoying, comedy about two cops with totally opposite characters after a rich drug dealer. Quite clearly, the point of the movie isn't the crime detection at all... the film becomes a hilarious spoof of the 70s culture, still paying homage to the original TV show.

And the comedy is pretty evident. Starsky and Hutch may be of opposite personalities but they have one thing in common, they are buffoons. And with Stiller and Wilson playing them, it's just fun to watch them embark on all those hilarious mishaps. The role by Snoop Dogg is also a hit. Vaughan plays the no-nonsense drug lord with a brilliant serious air around him. Carmen Electra, Amy Smart and Juliette Lewis only add to the fun with their 70s-type 'brainless babe' roles.

It'd take a long time to mention the funny scenes, because they are plenty. I'd rather point out the ones that I found rather annoying... like the mime act scene or the jail interview scene. But that's okay, these films are supposed to have few shots of such crude sense of humor and I've known many who'd actually like them. The story, by the way, could have been a bit more dramatic. Besides these minor complaints, 'Starsky and Hutch' scores good.

Hand on heart I did not want to watch this film. Although I grew up with the TV series and really enjoyed it, when the film was released I have to say that I was not keen, I can not put my finger on why, perhaps it was Stiller, who, Something About Mary apart, has never really done it for me. But what ever the reason, it remained unveiwed.

That was 2004 - Xmas 2006 and I get DVD vouchers, so In the January sales off I go to see what I can get, I do quite well, but have £3 remaining, I have 2 or 3 to chose from 2 I have already seen, and Starsky & Hutch.....So I bought it.......yet still it was unwatched until yesterday.......hungover and feeling a little lazy I needed something to pass the time that was easy to watch, funny, and not too taxing.....so on it goes.

How surprised was I then when after only a few minutes I was giggling away. Stiller was actually entertaining and I was enjoying watching him, Mr Wilson was very good and I got the vibe that the characters gelled as the ones in the TV series did. Vaughan was a good baddie, and Snoop was hight entertaining if not as camp Huggy Bear! All in all this is a good solid comedy film, not brilliant don't get me wrong, but worth a watch.