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>> STARSKY & HUTCH (2004)

Starring: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn and more ...
Director: Todd Phillips
Genre: Comedy




starsky & hutch is the remake of the film series that was popular in the seventies era. two cool cops with opposite personalities work together as the top force to maintain the law & order in bay city area. it's a surprisingly funny movie, the best of the 1970s recycling jobs, with good chemistry, crunchy jokes, but yet refreshing scenes that took us back to the 70s style movies and how it was made to make it good and entertaining, old school style. ben stiller and owen wilson star, in their sixth movie together. one is hyper and the other is sleepy-eyed and cool. in a genial spoof of the cop buddy genre, they're both misfits on the bay city police force. starsky (stiller) is the kind of cop who would ask another cop if he had a license for his firearm. hutch (wilson) has done nothing useful at all for months, aside from enriching himself illegally by stealing from dead bodies. their captain (fred williamson) thinks they deserve each other and makes them partners in a scene where hutch immediately insults starsky's perm.

the bad guy is reese feldman (the talented vince vaughn), coils of cigarette smoke constantly rising in front of his face. he's a big-time cocaine dealer who has invented, or discovered, a form of cocaine that has no taste or smell and can fool police dogs. he's also a vicious boss who kills an underling in the opening scene and pushes him off his yacht. discovery of the floater gives starsky and hutch their first big case, although they almost blow it, since hutch's first suggestion is to push it back out to sea and hope it floats to the next precinct.

although the plot survives sporadically, the movie is mostly about the rapport between stiller and wilson, who carry on a running disagreement about style while agreeing on most other issues, such as the importance of partying with sexy cheerleaders as part of their investigation. carmen electra and amy smart are the cheerleaders improbably attracted to the guys, and there's a very funny scene where wilson croons a minor hit by david soul (the original hutch) from the 1970s, while a psychedelically fueled cartoon bird chirps on his shoulder.

the movie doesn't make the mistake of relying entirely on its stars. apart from vaughn and the cheerleaders, the supporting cast benefits mightily from juliette lewis as vaughn's mistress and snoop dogg as huggy bear, a combo pimp/superfly/police informer whose outfits are like retro cubed. the always hillarious will ferrell turns up in a weird cameo as a jailhouse source whose sexual curiosity falls far outside anything either starsky or hutch had ever imagined ("arch your back and look back at me over your shoulder, like a dragon"). another character is starsky's beloved bright-red supercharged ford gran torino, which he drives like a madman while obsessing about the smallest scratch. the closing stunt involves something we've been waiting to happen in car stunt scenes for a very long time.

the film's director is todd phillips of "road trip" and "old school." both movies contained real laughs, and now in "starsky & hutch," he reaches critical mass. will the movie inspire me to watch reruns of the original series? well, maybe not. the movie is just right to watch with good laughs, since it casts the ensemble of people i love to watch. i think if it wasn't because the ensemble cast, i wouldn't probably going to watch this movie in the theater.

>> rated by :: sLesTa | [ ]

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