AndrewBloom
6/10 8 years ago
Several of the Lonely Island's *SNL* sketches fall into a few basic ideas that are well-employed for the most part: riffs on cheese from the eighties, takes on rap and hip hop, and pure absurdism. While hip hop is mostly sidelined for the duration of *Hot Rod*, the other two big tools in the Lonely Island toolbox are firmly present in the film, and extending them from five-minute sketches to a ninety-minute feature doesn't necessarily do the group's comedic voice many favors.
*Hot Rod* feels very much like a parody of the can-do films of the eighties and early nineties. The plot--where Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg) is a wannabe local stuntman who tries to put together a big jump so he can earn enough money for his stepdad's transplant and earn his respect is ripped right out of the same kind of movies that *South Park* satirized in its notable "Asspen" episode.
The problem is that while *South Park* made a great deal of comedic hay from pointing out the ridiculousness of what they were parodying, *Hot Rod* mostly plays the beats of those types of films straight, and expects some exaggerated mugging from the main character, a solid dose of the usual Lonely Island randomness, and the performance of the admittedly very talented supporting cast to carry things in the humor department. The result is a film where you're never sure if the folks behind the scenes are poking fun at the usual tropes or lazily giving into them.
Nowhere in the film is this more apparent than with the character of Denise (Isla Fisher), who is Rod's former neighbor and love interest in the film. True to Samberg's *SNL* roots, Denise is a trademark "One-Dimensional Female Character in a Male Driven Comedy," with no interests, agency, or even real characteristics of her own beyond the fact that she cares for and supports Rod. Again, while *South Park* took on this same idea in "Asspen" by noting the weirdness of how two girls like the protagonist for no real reason and making fun of it, there's little sense of parody to the character of Denise. She simply exists to fill a very specific role as trophy and ever-admiring companion to Rod, without dialogue or performance that suggests the film is aware of the tiredness of that.
Which is strange because the film pulls a similar, albeit much more abbreviated trick with Jonathan (Will Arnett), Rod's romantic rival who is such an overly cliched jerk that his asshole behavior reads clearly as a parody of those types of characters in similar films. Maybe it's Arnett's performance, where the actor has perfected the role of exagerratedly pompous prick to a level of fine art, that even the mild writing can coast on his talents.
The same goes for Rod's stepdad, Frank (Ian McShane). Frank's constant belittling and attempts to actually beat up his stepson are so out there and absurd that the parody works, even if it keeps hitting that same note over and over again to diminishing returns. To that end, the film does best when it uses those standard "overcoming adversity" movies as a skeleton to hang the absurdity on rather than leaning into the clichedness of it all and hoping that the comedy just happens. The fact that Rod isn't trying to jump because he loves his stepdad, but that he wants to keep Frank alive long enough that Rod can kick his ass and truly become a man is the kind of inspired little twist that helps the otherwise standard premise have a little more comedic juice.
Frankly, the best parts of the film, however, come from the elements of it that are, at most, tangential to the main story, particularly its supporting cast. Danny McBride brings an inherent ridiculousness to even the most mundane lines, to where he can ask a simple question about who he's supposed to build ramps for now that Rod's "retired," and make it funny. In the same way, Bill Hader soars as the amiably, somewhat dim friend Dave who has a one-scene wonder when he asks Rod to give him a ride to the hospital after he injured himself operating heavy machinery while tripping on acid. And Chris Parnell steals the show as Barry Pasternack, the owner of an AM radio station who's convinced his station is one big event away from ruling the roost over FM Radio and Television once more, and has the strange tattoo to prove it. Unlike the film, Parnell walks the line between straight-laced and absurd perfectly, with his announcements over the radio that Rod's big jump "must literally be seen to be believed" and his general demeanor and awkward enthusiasm.
That said, most of the comedic moments starring Sandberg himself fall flat. The caricatured, somewhat whiny persona Samberg takes on as Rod either feels too cheesy to help keep an exaggerated comedy from spiraling out into the ether, and it makes the scenes where he's the focus frequently fall flat. To the same end, despite the hoary plot of the film, it often has trouble sustaining momentum. Particularly in the middle, the film devolves into what amounts to a series of sketches, some of which are amusing enough, but many of which default to easy gags that lack the cleverness, immediacy, or economy of Lonely Island's usual sketches.
*Hot Rod* tries to make this whole more than the sum of its parts. It hopes that the inherent ridiculousness of a Europe-heavy soundtrack, a fulsome dose of goofy male-dancing, and random asides like the "Cool Beans" detour can make up for the shortcomings of a sadly standard comedy. There's a quick-hit energy and well-observed specificity to counterbalance the absurdity of the best Lonely Island sketches and keep the comedy on point that's missing here. Instead, the film veers into several moments where it feels far more like its giving into the cliches rather than poking fun at them. There's a few laughs here and there, but overall, you're better off just watching a good episode of *South Park*.
