Hot Rod

Either you get it, or you don't.
I'm going to cut right to the chase. This movie has a few moments that just don't hit it home. That said, they are exactly that. Moments. This movie was not made to be "good" by any traditional standards. I've heard and read complaints about how the story is shallow, or how the character doesn't even have an age, or hometown, or job, or whatever...but who cares?

Listen..you can't watch this movie expecting to come away with some deeper meaning. There's not one there. Even I'll admit that. You can't watch American Beauty and expect to come away holding your sides. Just as American Beauty was a great film because it conveyed perfectly what it set out to convey, so to is Superbad, because it was exactly what it seemed: An '80s teen movie...that just happened to come out in 2007.

If you have a soft spot in your heart for The Breakfast Club, or even Mighty Ducks (I know, it's not an 80's movie), you will find a familiar, albeit slightly twisted home in this film. If...

HOT ROD
"Yes" is my response to this movie. Finally a movie that understands what is truly important in this world: 80s music training montages, fighting people HARD, being totally awesome, and love. It's not obvious Will Ferrell jokes, or Napoleon Dynamite non-jokes, it's somewhere inbetween...and then a sharp right turn off into space. Hot Rod is its own brand of genius- the genius of The Lonely Island.

A modest film with a lot of heart...much like Rod himself.
Hot Rod marks one of the first films to feature the new generation of Saturday Night Live members with Andy Samberg and Bill Hader. It's standard practice that SNL has become a launching pad for a movie career. Do Samberg and Hader have what it takes to make that jump from the small screen to the big one? If you put Footloose (Special Collector's Edition), Napoleon Dynamite - Like, the Best Special Edition Ever!, and Nacho Libre (Special Collector's Edition) into a blender, Hot Rod would be the martini you would get.

Andy Samberg plays the eternal optimist with zero talent and tons of ambition. He's the Ed Wood of the stuntmen world. He commits himself completely to the role and is likable enough. Isla Fisher is absolutely adorable as the film's love interest...

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