by brenton crozier bdcrozier@gmail.com
Hot Rod brings the type of stunts, epic fist fights, totally awesome 80s power ballads, and the fake-mustached showmanship you were almost certainly not looking for. Saturday Night Live standout Andy Samberg plays lead character Rod Kimble, an aspiring, but rather substandard stuntman. The entire premise of the movie hinges on Rod raising enough money (by performing a super stunt) to get his stepfather the heart surgery he needs to get better; better enough for Rod to earn his respect by kicking his ass.
A number of the movies produced by Lorne Michaels, and featuring SNL cast members, often feel like homogenized versions of the popular skit that they are based on. Luckily, Hot Rod is not based on an SNL skit or weighed down by SNL writers failing to translate 4 minutes of funny to 90 minutes of a real comedy.
Andy Samberg has given Saturday Night Live a rejuvenating blast with a younger, more non-conventional and sometimes random take on things. Samberg, along with Hot Rod’s director Akiva Schaffer, are responsible for the popular SNL Digital Shorts that have sparked a more modern interest in the show, translating into more than 25 million You Tube downloads.
Samberg and Schaffer teamed with South Park and Team America: World Police writer Pam Brady, keeping that irreverent and arbitrary humor that makes comedy seekers so happy. Gems like the cool-beans-off between Kimble and his stepbrother Kevin Powell (played by SNL writer Jorma Taccone), Kimble’s 2 Legit to Quit love speech, and the poorly projected spirit animals that Kimble calls on before every stunt, make it not only funny enough, but capricious enough to make me want to see it again. The real coup de grace to my sides was Kimble’s angry punch dance scene in the woods ala Kevin Bacon in Footloose.
Hot Rod pays many a homage to 80s movies and culture. It was even confusing at times in that Napoleon Dynamite type of way, making me wonder what decade the movie takes place in. Although both films contain that sort of decade disorientation, surges of completely random humor, and nerdy leading men, Hot Rod probably won’t permeate with the type of post run success that Dynamite enjoyed, although it is sure to do better at the box office. Where Dynamite was an anomaly of sorts that took moviegoers by surprise, Hot Rod features Samberg and crew like you want to see them; quirky, diminutive in coolness, and funny with absolutely no concern of poignant moments or life lessons.
Hot Rod features some hilarious and surprisingly cast supporting roles. Ian McShane of Deadwood fame plays Frank Powell, Kimble’s impossible to impress, tough stepfather. There entire relationship is predicated on Kimble being man enough to beat Frank up in one of their frequent and strange combative encounters. Although Kimble professes to hate Frank, he is confident that he can win his respect and replace the paternal void in his life left by his biological father, who was purported to die as a result of being impaled by his handlebars during a stunt. Sissy Spacek plays Kimble’s mother, Marie Powell, in a performance that doesn’t really project that greatly, but makes you curious about Spacek and her agent reading the script and concluding, “Yep, that’s the one, let’s do it.”
Will Arnett of Arrested Development fame and Samberg’s SNL co-star Bill Hader play hilarious roles, although one “C’mon!” from Arnett would have been a fantastic bone to throw the Arrested Development faithful.
Remember your young dreams of being a fighter pilot, professional athlete, or wholesome politician? Well my friends, Rob Kimble stayed true to his dream of being a stuntman and taking the big jumps. Take the nonsensical journey with him and invigorate the dreamer in you. Invigorate it all over the theater, all over your popcorn, all over your friends; just don’t let the theater manager or usher see you. If they see you, they might throw you out without a refund. There is even a remote possibility of you being banned from the theater altogether.
Adorn your fake mustache and throw big action, romantic comedy, and linear gags to the wind and enjoy Hot Rod.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
