Let’s play a game called “Which one of these doesn’t belong?” I will give you the names of four Hollywood actors and you tell me which one doesn’t fit with the others — John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy.
If you said Martin Lawrence, then you may be a racist. If you said William H. Macy, then you are still wrong. The answer is all of them. They all don’t belong, especially when it come to making a movie about middle-aged men dealing with their mid-life crises by heading off on a cross-country motorcycle trip. In fact, prior to making this middle-aged man on bike-a-thon, these four actors had never even met. What they found in their newly acquired kinship may be a movie so laugh out loud funny that it will surprise you; at least, I know it surprised me.
Up to their handlebars in their unfulfilled and clichéd lives, these Wild Hogs decide that it is time to take to the open road where only freedom (and plenty of trouble) lies ahead of them. Doug (Tim Allen) is a dentist whose son has no respect for him because he is “lame”; Bobby (Martin Lawrence) is the classic house husband, bossed around by his wife and ignored by his deviant children; Woody (John Travolta) is a washed up talent agent whose supermodel wife left him bankrupt and alone with his Harley; and Dudley (William H. Macy) is a computer programmer whose dating skill set is on par with that of a brick wall.
The four take on the open road, mostly seen riding through the open spaces of the American midwest, which is aptly filmed by director Walt Becker (Van Wilder) and cinematographer Robbie Greenberg (The Santa Clause 3) and supported by a soundtrack mixed with riding music from the '70s (Foghat’s “Slow Ride”) and the '80s (AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell”). It is much of what you would expect from a movie where fifty percent of the 99 minute run time is watching four guys ride their hogs on a lonely highway.
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Article comments
1 - Chris Beaumont
Sound surprisingly fun. This is on deck tonight as the front half of a twinbill with Black Snake Moan.
Also:
"surprisingly ruckus comedic moments"?
Should that not be raucous?
2 - Neil Miller
Hehe... you got me, Chris.
My editorial process doesn't work so well at 2am...
3 - Chris Beaumont
I know the feeling....
4 - Jason of New Movie Friday
Neil, I liked your review. The way it started out, I thought you were going to hate it, as is the case with most reviews I have read. Yet, you found it funny, as did I. It may not of been raucously funny, but I did find myself laughing quite a bit. There may be plenty of things wrong with this movie, but you can’t ask much more from a comedy than for it to be funny.
5 - Lizzybee
I went to see this movie with my two preteen kids and my two senior citizen parents. I'm in my 30s. We all pretty much laughed hysterically through most of the movie. It's one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time.