The funniest line of Beerfest
doesn't even come during the film itself. Read the bottom of the
theatrically released poster and you'll find this gem:
There are certain words that have diminished in power over the
years through excessive or improper usage. Perhaps there is no better example of
this in the
English language than "genius" if we are to start using it in reference to the
overhyped comedy team called Broken Lizard. To a secondary degree, I
have to also chuckle at the use of the word "phenomenon" as applied to Super
Troopers, a film that grossed approximately $18 million in the
United States, vanishing from theaters almost completely after three weeks of
release. By comparison, the critically maligned Britney Spears film
Crossroads (released the same year) made over twice that much. I guess
she is beyond a label such as "genius". Apparently, the public must have
remained unaware of their genius; Broken Lizard's previous film,
Club Dread, grossed less than $5 million domestically.
Needless to say, I haven't really seen anything in their brand of
comedy that suggests these guys are anything more than passably amusing.
If anything, they are funnier comedic actors than they are writers, as most of
their comedies rely far too much on old stereotypes and frat boy hijinks than in
anything truly clever or original. Beerfest certainly marks their
third straight effort that falls far short of the mark to making "Broken Lizard"
the household name their marketers think they are.
The story: brothers Jan (Soter) and Todd Wolfhouse (Stolhanske) travel to Germany to
deposit their recently deceased German grandfather's ashes where they discover
an underground party called "Beerfest", which has become a sort of Olympics
competition for beer drinkers. While there, they are humiliated by the German
team, who just so happen to be their long-lost cousins, the Von Wolfhausen clan,
who proceed to call their mother a whore and their father a thief who had stolen
the secret recipe for the world's best beer.
Shaken from the event, Jan and Todd vow to return and give the
Von Wolfhausens their just desserts. They proceed to court their best
drinking buddies to put together a superteam of beer guzzlers that should give
the Germans a proper ass-whipping, but when fears and calamities threaten to
break up the group, the boys look like they might be on the verge of becoming a
laughing stock at Beerfest for a second straight year.
Although it's been over a decade since Broken Lizard first formed
their comedy troupe back in their college days, it seems they still haven't
outgrown their college-centric mentalities. Back in one's early twenties,
such things as non-stop drinking binges, semi-nude women, and public displays of crudeness
are
all it really took to get people giggling and screaming. These sorts of
hot buttons for easy titillation are all they seem to be able to press, as
Beerfest does very little outside of showing senseless acts of debauchery.
Perhaps if you're of the mentality where you shout out, "Beeeeer! YEEAAAHH!!!!
BEEEEE-eee---eee---(hic)----EERR" when someone brings out a keg, or "uhhh...oooohh...DAAAAMN!"
anytime a hot female enters the room, you're probably at the right maturity
level to be completely enthralled by the redundant party atmosphere that
Beerfest delivers.
Unfortunately, babes, bongs and beers might be funny to a
young adult just learning what all those things are, but that sort of thing
doesn't really make them funny in and of themselves. It's only the
fact that they aren't usually shown that makes these things humorous to some
people. Crude gags and sexual humor are easy; these things are almost taboo
in one's daily public existence, which makes them "funny" when they are shown without
inhibition. The problem is that, while seeing someone act totally F'd up
might get laughs from those that haven't really seen that sort of thing, or
those reminiscing about "that one time" they also did something that stupid, in
terms of true humor value, their worth is virtually inconsequential. It
doesn't take much brain power to show men guzzling beer, acting stupid, and
being rude. I guess when you don't have anything truly clever or inspired
to deliver, you might as well get some cheap laughs.
While getting shit-faced and losing all inhibitions with your
friends might be a fun thing to do, I really don't understand why anyone would
find it as fun to watch, unless they are doing so in an already inebriated state
where just about anything crude and lewd is funny. The only brand of humor
other than beer and sex comes through some played-out stereotypes of Germans,
Jews, Brits, and other nationalities, although with these guys as our
ambassadors, they unintentionally make fun of Americans the most.
Beerfest
is the kind of film that will probably play
better on DVD than at the theater, where one can pause it or turn it off after
having his fill of drunken idiocy. At a lengthy 110 minutes, the humor
gets very old very quickly when taking it all in at once; some people would
rightfully mock the title as "Borefest". If you're going into the
film stupefied from a night of drinking, you'll probably get the laughs, but
once the buzz of the beer wears off, so too will the buzz of the movie. If
there's ever a movie that can give you a hangover just from rampant imbecility,
this is the one.
Qwipster's rating:
©2006 Vince Leo
