I went to go see The Dukes of Hazzard with
pfjunkie this afternoon. If you've seen the TV show, you pretty much know what to expect, kick ass stunt driving, a good dose of southern humor, and gratuitous t&a courtesy of Jessica Simpson. While I won't say that it covers any particularly important or interesting new ground, you can tell that the guys from Broken Lizard (of Super Troopers & Club Dread infamy) actually liked the show and they had fun with the material (as opposed to making fun of it).I definitely wouldn't recommend this movie to everyone, but if your first thought when you heard that "there's a new Dukes of Hazzard movie coming out this summer" was "woo-hoo!" then you'll most likely enjoy it. It's not a "fine film" or "great cinema" it's just a fun movie. It appeals to the 12 year old kid in you who liked watching things blow up and cars flying through the air. Despite what some folks might say, I'd call it good old fashioned fun (then again I did grow up in Texas ;) and it delivered quite a bit more entertainment than I was expecting. I was a little apprehensive about how much I'd enjoy is since I'm not a huge fan of either Sean William Scott, Johnny Knoxville (in fact I always kind of disliked him), or Jessica Simpson, but they did a great job with their characters and their approach to them really worked. They had a good sense of humor about what they were doing so it comes off as fun instead of silly or stupid.
I think the only thing I found genuinely disappointing about the movie is how it's being slammed by critics. Even Gary Coghill (who I once considered to be a great "everyman" critic) panned it and that's only served to confirm that by and large most professional movie critics are idiots. Like I said before, this isn't a "great cinema" it's just a fun movie and sadly a lot of critics seem to just miss that point. It's unfortunate really because I can't help but wonder how many movies are unfairly penalized at the box office because they aren't "critically acclaimed". This movie may be getting beat up by the critics, but bottom line, if you liked the TV show and you want a fun/exciting trip down memory lane this is definitely a movie to watch.
