Starsky & Hutch

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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Silly comedy. Silly jokes. Ok enough to watch it till the end, but nothing above average. Think of the usual Will Ferrel and Vince Vaugh kids humor and then you will know what to expect.

Cant imagine anyone being interested in the story because there basically is none. It's just a contineous silly parody on narcotic cops investigating drugdealers.

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.

So any time you mix a Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Todd Phillips, Wilson brother, and/or Vince Vaughn these days... you're pretty much guaranteed greatness (or at least a box office success). Will this train to gravy town ever end? Not with "Starsky" it won't... another winner. (This time with Juliette Lewis -- her first time? -- and Snoop Dogg -- also in "Old School" -- thrown in.) The film is full of great moments, from the dissertation on the sovereignty of Luxembourg to the return of the Dan Band (again, "Old School").

Chris Penn's appearance was sad... but if this was one of his last films, at least he left an impact in this world. Thanks, Chris, I love you.

I should also mention the soundtrack is spectacular - bringing back old hits that time has forgotten, much like "Dodgeball". All over, this film was very enjoyable and I'll probably end up watching it over and over again on those cold Wisconsin nights.

As for the plot, it's two cops in the 1970s working undercover and disco dancing, while making out with Carmen Electra and fighting Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn in cheesy mustaches. If that's not your cup of tea, move on... but if it is, you'll probably love this film as much as some of the others (although this film is not as good as "Dodgeball" or "Anchorman", if that's what you think I'm getting at.)

A funny and thoroughly enjoyable spin on the overused cop-buddy formula, "Starsky and Hutch" is one of the most entertaining films of 2004 -- even if it's nothing more than just that.

With a fair share of laugh-out-loud moments, and more than a handful of in-joke references to '70s pop culture (including the original source material: "Starsky and Hutch" the TV show), it also boasts a fine comedic cast with talented performers: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Snoop Dogg, Chris Penn, Amy Smart and some uncredited cameos by the likes of Will Ferrell -- and yes, even the original Starsky and Hutch. But their shared appearance is one best left open. ("I get a good vibe from these guys," the younger Hutch exclaims in one of the film's most savory self-referential moments.)

The film takes place in Bay City, "sometime during the '70s," when David Starsky (Stiller) -- a by-the-numbers police officer who spends his entire day chasing small-time crooks -- is paired up with a new partner, the reckless Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson (Wilson). Starsky and Hutch don't get along at first -- their mixed personalities collide, resulting in uncomfortable tension. Placed on an assignment involving an alleged drug lord (Vaughn), who has managed to create undetectable cocaine, Starsky and Hutch find themselves in a number of awkward situations: getting a statement by Big Earl (Ferrell), a dragon-obsessed inmate with some major issues; the usual tidbits of information from Huggy Bear (Dogg), a friend and informant of Hutch's; and of course the mandatory romantic subplot involving a pair of sexy cheerleaders.

The contrast of Starsky and Hutch is handled deliberately blunt: this comedy isn't as much a victim of the cop-buddy genre as it is a dead-on spoof. Hutch is a self-described "realist" -- during his introductory sequence he is shown fleeing the scene of a robbery with a stash of money. We assume he is undercover, and that's what he tells the cops when they try to arrest him. However, he's just using his badge as an excuse to commit crimes -- and get away with them.

I asked myself if it was as possible as the film implies, but then the Constantly Yelling and/or Upset Police Captain (another clichéd role that happens to show up in all these movies) tells Hutch that it's the seventh time he's been arrested for robbery, and Hutch tells him that he's undercover -- trying to work his way in through the criminal underground. The joke, of course, is that we find out the robberies are all totally unrelated and bear no significant to a criminal underground of any kind.

There are a few sequences in the movie that deserve a description of their own, such as when Starsky accidentally consumes a large amount of cocaine and works himself into an ultimate-high-frenzy, battling on the disco floor of a nightclub for short-lived glory. After his opponent is unjustly awarded the gold medal, Starsky pulls out his gun and from there on the entire situation escalates into one of those scenes that -- like parts of Stiller's "There's Something About Mary" -- last on in viewers' minds even after the film itself fades away. The sort of sequence you might chuckle about to yourself as you drive home and recall certain moments from the film.

Stiller and Wilson -- presently two of Hollywood's most famous odd couples who have united together for a number of projects over the years -- are always likable in their films and nothing changes here. Wilson uses his sarcastic quips to an advantage, coming across as the smoother of the two, whereas Starsky is the bumbling and self-conscious idiot who is both over-protective and over-zealous.

The movie is at its best when it is cleverly satirizing the genre. Most of these films always include a sequence where the police captain will suspend the movie's protagonist and frown on him, saying something cheesy like, "Your father, who spent years on the force and was one of the highest-decorated officers, would be ashamed of you!" Instead, the police captain tells Starsky that his mother would be ashamed of him. And then after being suspended, Starsky takes a visit to his mother's grave and places a glazed donut on the headstone (she was the highly decorated cop in the family, apparently).

The film was directed by Todd Phillips, whose resume includes such raunchy efforts at comedy as the crude-but-enjoyable "Road Trip" and surprising "Old School." The latter film starred Ferrell and Vaughn and contained a cameo appearance by Snoop Dogg (as himself), so obviously these guys enjoyed working with Phillips and, I'm sure, agreed to contribute to this movie just for the heck of it.

The result is a very goofy, entertaining summer flick that never tries too hard and invariably never falls too hard, either. It does fall sometimes, but even then it usually takes its screw-ups with a pinch of salt. This is the sort of movie worth the price of admission -- just to sit back, forget your worries, and watch a couple of clowns bumble their way through an enjoyable farce of the '70s. It's not the kind of movie you'll be talking about after you see it -- just a simple popcorn flick. If you're out and about and you happen to stumble into a theater showing this film, you'll find your money well spent. I won't praise "Starsky and Hutch" for being a brilliant tongue-in-cheek spoof of the cop-buddy films -- I'll merely say that, for what it is, "Starsky and Hutch" is well-made and funny -- a surprisingly simple movie that is everything it pretends to be. The majority of films that use this approach suffer because they fall victim to their targets, especially most released this year, but where the others have failed "Starsky and Hutch" succeeds.