Last night we watched the movie 'Wild Hogs'. We were supposed to watch it last week but didn't do so because it got an F grade from the critics and most user reviews weren't gr8 either. But to our surprise, the movie made $40 million in one weekend and hence we decided to watch it. It turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.
The movie is about 4 40-something friends Doug (Tim Allen) who's a married dentist, Woody (John Travolta) who's a high profile broker kinda guy just divorced, Bobby (Martin Lawrence) a henpecked plumber and Dudley (William H. Macy) a geeky software programmer who is perpetually scared of women. The situations of their lives where one has high cholesterol and can't eat junk while the other cannot pursue a book writing dream while another is bankrupt et.al. lead them on the quest of freedom. Being good old college buddies, they decide to do what they've always doing together -- BIKING! They decide to head out in quest of the pacific on a road trip from Cincinnati.
The movie is about how their roadtrip shapes up, including their troubles getting along with each other and then getting accepted among real bikers. Somewhere along the skirmishes with real bikers, there's a nice little love story that gets created in a tiny little New Mexican town.
The movie is an out-and-out comedy which has a very good mix of mid-life crisis, the quest for freedom and the attempt to be 'cool'. Dudley's character is hilarious right from the beginning, given his attempts to fit in among friends and women though he loves his geeky beginning. The scene in the trailers of him banging into a realtor board is only the tip of the iceberg. His character has been very well crafted to keep you rolling in laughter. William Macy, traditionally the serious 'character role' artist, carries out Dudley really well.
Martin Lawrence's Bobby is well-crafted. Age has definitely taken out any of the goofiness from him. The sways and stylish way of talking that only he can do with that husky "am in pain" accent is good to hear as usual.
John Travolta's character of Woody starts off very boisterous and full of enthusiasm. Somewhere along the way, his situation in life shows up as guilt and it is really funny to see him cringing, though it borders on irritation at times. Towards the end of the movie, his back to where he started the movie and that's really entertaining.
Tim Allen's Doug has the most gentlemany character of role. Doesn't do much but generate a few good guffaws. It is the kind of typical Tim Allen role that we get to see on "Home Improvement" :-) He has one of the best scenes of the movie when he slaps a bull's butt, only to realize that a bull should never be slapped twice on the butt! I leave the rest for your imagination.
There's a wide variety of supporting cast that provides good laughs here and there.
The story itself is one of those "feel good" stories, where the underdogs win. Add a romantic angle to it and there's your nice enjoyable movie. Added to that, given that these gentlemen are mostly 45+, it is mostly clean humor with little or no profanity or "adult" material, making it a clean family entertainer.
I'd definitely recommend that you watch it.
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