Post by StevePulaski on Dec 12, 2011 18:44:43 GMT -5
Rating: ★★
What Hollywood has been doing to classic Television shows from the good ol' days is very sad and disheartening to not only fans but movie lovers in general. They've been dissecting the show for what it really isn't about and making that the prime focus in the film. Bewitched was victim the same year as The Dukes of Hazzard, and that remake focused on the goofiness of the movie rather than the tenderness.
Jay Chandrasekhar's The Dukes of Hazzard dissects the original program solely for its car chases and idiotic dialog. I've caught a couple of the original shows on Television and found that it's more about the cousin's relationship than what kind of neato tricks the General Lee can do. Even if you're not familiar with the show, ponder this very broad and simple question; how can this film be true to the show that was very successful and ran for seven long seasons if all it focuses on are car chases?
Chandrasekhar is part of the Broken Lizard comedy team, a team known for making hilariously crafty satires on genres and cliches. Ironically, M.C. Gainey from the original Dukes program is here, who also worked with Broken Lizard in their film Club Dread a year later. My, how the film world works.
Bo (Scott) and Luke (Knoxville) are not only cousins, but best friends who make a living selling moonshine for their Uncle Jesse (Nelson) in Hazzard County, Georgia. They, of course, take dirt roads and tend to trail off course by going over muddy slopes, dirty ramps, etc in their 1969 Dodge Charger nicknamed "General Lee."
One day, the boys get word that Boss Hogg (Reynolds, in quite possibly his most embarrassing role to date) is planning to tear down the town of Hazzard and make it into a coalmine and get rich. So, the boys and their scantily clad cousin Daisy Duke (Simpson, who serves as literally insulting eye candy) try to stop Hogg and reclaim the town as there's.
All of the Broken Lizard castmates including Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lomme, Paul Soter, director Jay Chandrasekhar, and Erik Stolhanske make some sort of appearance and gives it the close to home feel I'm sure Chandrasekhar was going for. Sadly, they are used mostly for filler and don't add much to the storyline.
In fact, the storyline is cookie-cutter at best. I always think of ways they could've improved a film, but here, I'm totally at a loss for replacement plot ideas. That means the show should've been left alone. Going back to Jessica Simpson, her performance is the equivalent to a mannequin you see at a shopping store. She's dressed provocatively and is so comfortable baring everything that it's mind-boggling. In an interview, she even states how she has to work a lot less because her part is so unnecessary and void of purpose. It's hard to define whether or not she is proud of that.
The Dukes of Hazzard is one of the many shows to now get a butchered, undeserved film treatment and can join the club with Bewitched, Starsky and Hutch, etc. Chandrasekhar has been in and directed very good films. He should stick to those rather than dead-end, dissected, empty areas of little creativity.
Starring: Seann William Scott, Johnny Knoxville, Jessica Simpson, Burt Reynolds, and Willie Nelson. Directed by: Jay Chandrasekhar.
What Hollywood has been doing to classic Television shows from the good ol' days is very sad and disheartening to not only fans but movie lovers in general. They've been dissecting the show for what it really isn't about and making that the prime focus in the film. Bewitched was victim the same year as The Dukes of Hazzard, and that remake focused on the goofiness of the movie rather than the tenderness.
Jay Chandrasekhar's The Dukes of Hazzard dissects the original program solely for its car chases and idiotic dialog. I've caught a couple of the original shows on Television and found that it's more about the cousin's relationship than what kind of neato tricks the General Lee can do. Even if you're not familiar with the show, ponder this very broad and simple question; how can this film be true to the show that was very successful and ran for seven long seasons if all it focuses on are car chases?
Chandrasekhar is part of the Broken Lizard comedy team, a team known for making hilariously crafty satires on genres and cliches. Ironically, M.C. Gainey from the original Dukes program is here, who also worked with Broken Lizard in their film Club Dread a year later. My, how the film world works.
Bo (Scott) and Luke (Knoxville) are not only cousins, but best friends who make a living selling moonshine for their Uncle Jesse (Nelson) in Hazzard County, Georgia. They, of course, take dirt roads and tend to trail off course by going over muddy slopes, dirty ramps, etc in their 1969 Dodge Charger nicknamed "General Lee."
One day, the boys get word that Boss Hogg (Reynolds, in quite possibly his most embarrassing role to date) is planning to tear down the town of Hazzard and make it into a coalmine and get rich. So, the boys and their scantily clad cousin Daisy Duke (Simpson, who serves as literally insulting eye candy) try to stop Hogg and reclaim the town as there's.
All of the Broken Lizard castmates including Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lomme, Paul Soter, director Jay Chandrasekhar, and Erik Stolhanske make some sort of appearance and gives it the close to home feel I'm sure Chandrasekhar was going for. Sadly, they are used mostly for filler and don't add much to the storyline.
In fact, the storyline is cookie-cutter at best. I always think of ways they could've improved a film, but here, I'm totally at a loss for replacement plot ideas. That means the show should've been left alone. Going back to Jessica Simpson, her performance is the equivalent to a mannequin you see at a shopping store. She's dressed provocatively and is so comfortable baring everything that it's mind-boggling. In an interview, she even states how she has to work a lot less because her part is so unnecessary and void of purpose. It's hard to define whether or not she is proud of that.
The Dukes of Hazzard is one of the many shows to now get a butchered, undeserved film treatment and can join the club with Bewitched, Starsky and Hutch, etc. Chandrasekhar has been in and directed very good films. He should stick to those rather than dead-end, dissected, empty areas of little creativity.
Starring: Seann William Scott, Johnny Knoxville, Jessica Simpson, Burt Reynolds, and Willie Nelson. Directed by: Jay Chandrasekhar.