In 1972, a movie was made about a group of friends who traveled down the fictional Cahulawassee River in rural Georgia. These friends canoe down the river, get mixed up with some hillbillies, and end up losing one of their buddies along the way. Deliverance was a groundbreaking film at the time, and has been awarded three Academy Awards along with several Golden Globes.

Though it is set up as a parody and rip-off of Deliverance, Without a Paddle is nowhere near as good, nor as groundbreaking, as it could be. Instead, Without a Paddle is a teen flick full of college humor and pranks. From feces-filled bags to stereotypical hillbillies, the movie has nothing near the wit and sophistication of Deliverance. Toss in a bunch of pot jokes and bad actors and you have the makings of this movie.

WAP tells the story of Jerry (Matthew Lillard), a corporate tool who loves to surf, Tom (Dax Shepard), a deadbeat who simply seems to continue his college life, and Dan (Seth Green), a hypochondriac doctor who has never been laid in his life, as they attempt to have one last adventure. When they were younger, the guys, along with a fourth friend named Billy (Carl Snell), pledged to find the infamous D.B. Cooper's treasure.

Though the three had moved on, Billy had plotted and discovered where the treasure was. Trying for years to get the guys to go on a vacation, Billy was stuck with the knowledge but without his friends to share it with. However, upon the death of Billy (for reasons we never know, but it serves as a good plot point), the guys take this vacation to honor their dead friend. Along the way they encounter a resistant sheriff, two pot farmers, and D.B.’s partner (played by Burt Reynolds as homage to his character from Deliverance). The movie ends with the guys all growing up and fulfilling their duties.

Article Author: Robert M. Barga

Robert M. Barga is a student at The Ohio State University (Go Bucks) and is majoring in Political Science, with an American Policy focus, and minoring in English. He is an avid blogger on Whalertly, technology guru, and gamer (computer, table-top, and console). …

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