Without a Paddle

I got free tickets to see the movie, part of a local radio station's promotion. I didn't expect much, but hey, who can turn down free tickets? I was right about free tickets and wrong about the movie. I didn't expect much and was incredibly surprised. This is one of the funniest movies of the year.

Don't expect cerebral humor. You won't get it here. In fact some of the humor is just plain gross. It's physical and at times crude potty humor. And if you're a stuffy grown-up who just can't let go and enjoy yourself for an hour and a half, then don't bother going to see Without a Paddle. But it you want to cut loose and have fun and laugh 'til you hurt, then this is the movie for you.

Seth Green, as always, plays it straight and ends up being the funniest one of all. And in Without a Paddle he certainly shows that he is one of the most self-assured, well-adjusted people on the planet, or he wouldn't have been able to handle a script that was one big "Pick on Seth" Festival. Green's character, Dan, is phobic, funny, and feckless. Poor Dan can't catch a break throughout the whole movie, but he sure keeps on trying, and in the end he's still short but a mighty big man. We just gotta hope he buys a new cell phone, and once you see the movie, you'll know why.

Lillard still is reminiscent of Shaggy from both Scooby Doo movies, but man oh man, that dude sure can surf a canoe like no one else. More than just a surfer dude, though, Lillard's character, Jerry, turns out to be the deep one who proves a spiritual anchor for his two childhood buddies, both during the adventure and after. Well sort of...as spiritual as Without a Paddle gets. Not anything sappy. Just enough to give it that "Awwww..." factor.

Burt Reynolds has come a long way from his Cosmo centerfold days in his appearance in Without a Paddle, but his character still seems to be stuck in the glory days of the 70's in many ways. Delightful, charming, and crotchety all at the same time, Reynolds is a cute addition to the cast.

Hick farmers, stoned doggies, "natural" beauties, a nasty sheriff, and a third childhood buddy round out the main characters, along with some secondary folks. Stereotypes abound, anything even coming close to sentiment is closely followed by more laughs, and a message is thrown in seemingly only as a token. The only bad thing is that sex is thrown in as a token too. Way too much of it, and it seems like a distraction rather than an addition to the humor. The worst of it is that the sex makes it less of a film for family members to enjoy together. Too bad, otherwise it's a great film for non-uptight parents and their kids.

This is not going to be an Oscar nominee. It's probably not the highlight of anyone's movie career. But I'll bet it was a heck of a lot of fun to make. And it's one funny film to watch. I highly recommend it!

This PG 13 comedy has been greatly maligned by some big time critics, the New York Times and other's. I think the main irritation is the homosexual eroticism, a joke if you will about Deliverance style banjo boys and close quarter survival in the nude. Some may be offended, sensitive gay's, little old Grandmothers, and redneck tobacco sputters. I assure you; however, this is a funny movie. City Slickers 1 and 2 covered this ground once before, but frankly, I liked Without a Paddle more. It's sentimental for all the right reasons. The boys truly love each other and when they become twenty something's, they retain some of their boyish quirks, each with a flaw, the short, picked-on boy grows up to be the short picked on doctor. You get the idea.

The Cascade Mountains both real and simulated is a beautiful green backdrop to the slapstick antics of angry bears and pot growing dummies. The tree girls are a breakdown and laugh idea. Their defense of a tree is brown bag humor, but gee, that hits a visceral laugh note in even the stuffiest fool.

Okay folks, now, I am not the type of guy that enjoys toilet humour in films, but this one I am a sucker for. This is just a hilarious movie! I guess it just reminds me a lot of the times that friends and I used to go camping.

The story is about 3 childhood friends, who are brought together after the untimely death of another childhood friend. Going back to the treehouse that they used to hang out at, they find a treasure map from their dead friend, and decide to go on the trip to find the money. Along the way, they encounter everything from a bear, tree-hugging hotties, and a couple of pot growing rednecks.

This film has some of the funniest scenes that I have seen in a long time. Again, a lot of it is toilet humour, and people looking for a serious comedy, may not get the humour and walk away in disgust. The scene with the paper bags had me rolling on the floor. One of the funniest scenes in a long time. Plus, there are a lot of Star Wars references in this film, and that is always a plus from me! Check out this film, you will be pleasantly surprised! I guess I have not lost all hope in newer comedies as previously thought.

"Where are we?", Seth Green asks, clueless, as the guys are standing in a street in a nondescript little Oregon village. "Corner of Bumfuck and You Got a Purty Mouth", Matthew Lillard snarls in way of answer.

Now, you need to know and appreciate John Boorman's thriller classic 'Deliverance' in order to get the full implications of this scene and countless others in 'Without a Paddle'. The film can be enjoyed by all & sundry, but those in the know will be rolling with laughter more often.

'Without a Paddle' establishes itself in a niche of its own among goofy modern comedies. It is really well written, not just the one-liners, but also the situations as such and the exposition and development of material. The actors all shine, especially young Dax Shepard as the loser type of the three buddies in their late 20s that go camping and looking for a buried treasure in a canoe up Spirit River. There they meet up with wild man Burt Reynolds, who was acclaimed for his performance in the original 'Deliverance', actually the character that Shepard inherited in this 'remake'.

There are no actual thrills in 'Without a Paddle' (unlike 'Deliverance'!!!), it sets its sight on glorious comedy. The huge surprise is that the gags are relatively 'tasteful', for want of a better word. It is not ALL about tits, dicks and feces.

Recommended. Absolutely.

The whole rating system is kind of skewed. Some people rated this film low because it wasn't Larwrence of Arabia but then it wasn't meant to be. It's like comparing actors when they play different roles. You can only really compare them playing the same role.

Anyway I went to the film expecting a goofy stoner type of mindless entertainment. Just a laugh. But I was pleasantly surprised that not only was it funny but some deeper thought had gone into it. The plot was more substantial than I expected, there were bits of philosophy sprinkled throughout which accentuated the positive side of life, and the cast was pretty good too. I'm not sure what inspired Burt Reynolds to play his character but he did it well as did all of the players.

But mainly the movie was funnier than hell. I almost embarrassed myself I laughed so hard during the first bear sequence. The image of Mott saying 'help' as he looked back while being carried off had me laughing way too high way too long but it and some other scenes were hilarious and I couldn't help it then either.

All in all a good film for the genre. And surprisingly while I think it appeals to the stoner crowd it's cool in that it incorporates it without promoting it though it doesn't avoid it either. In fact I was struck by the fact that the bad guys were red neck smokers and the good guys were dopey beer drinkers but apparently nothing more.

Lastly the film cleverly pays homage to other films throughout. Deliverance, The Matrix, and others are covered and probably a few I missed.