![]() Even when he agrees to serve as a human pinata. ![]() Riding into the face of doom wearing a ludicrous paste-on mustache (Dad had one, so he declares, “All great men have mustaches”), Rod’s dignity is regularly dinged but never demolished. The kid’s pavement-eating attempts to carry on his dad’s legacy are equally a tribute, an effort to establish his own manhood and a bruising exercise in futility. Rod’s late father, it seems, was Evel Kneivel’s mechanic, who did dry runs of the motorcycle daredevil’s every stunt. “Hot Rod” is a fresh, hip take on the Bumbling Idiot genre that made Will Ferrell a superstar, and Samberg throws himself into the role with an amiable mix of birthday entertainer’s goofiness and klutzy bravado. Because Rod can’t kick the evil old man’s butt in a score-settling throwdown if he’s all feeble and sick, now can he? The plan’s so crazy, it just might work!Īnd so is the film. Although he hasn’t been able to clear the length of his suburban community kiddie pool, he’s determined to jump a world-record 15 school buses to raise the money for his stepfather’s heart operation. “Saturday Night Live’s” Andy Samberg stars as Rod Kimble, a clumsy novice stuntman. Professionals performed all the stunts featured in “Hot Rod,” to the extent that someone can be professional at ramming a motorbike full speed into an RV. With Hot Rod, Samberg found the perfect vehicle for his manic toddler aesthetic and what could have easily been a chore turned out to be a thoroughly hilarious & surprisingly self-aware comedy I can see myself rewatching way more often than I should.Don’t try this at home, kids. He’s super dead,” and the fact that the entire plot is anchored in Rod’s attempts to raise money for his stepdad’s lifesaving surgery, just so he can get healthy enough to get his ass kicked. There’s also lines like “Have I ever shown you a picture of my dad? You gotta see it. For instance, most of the film boasts a killer 80s synthpop soundtrack, but towards the climax when Rod’s crew has their inevitable third act falling out, the score suddenly switches to melodramatic string arrangements. More than aware that it’s mostly good for a long string of non sequitur gags, Hot Rod tends to poke fun at itself whenever it has to actually become a real movie. Titles like MacGruber, Tammy, and Gentlemen Broncos all come to mind in consideration of just how dumb & low class the film intentionally is. If I had to pinpoint Hot Rod‘s exact subgenre, I’d place it somewhere in the self-aware dumb comedy category. I went into the film not sure that I could handle a feature length project from Samberg, but I left wishing there were more just like it. There’s a lot of solid humor derived from the disparity between Rod’s confidence & his actual abilities, which allows you to have a good laugh even while he drowns, catches fire, or explodes. Often missing jumps on his dirtbike & puking from the pain, Samberg’s titular Rod is far from the Evil Kineival Jr. Playing an overgrown man-child who wants to be a daredevil just like his deceased father, Samberg’s general mode here is slapstick comedy. It’s tempting to attribute Hot Rod‘s success to its supporting players (scene-stealing doofuses Bill Hader & Danny McBride, a ludicrously violent Ian McShane, Will Arnett as a perfect 80s cad- right down to the sunglasses & convertible, etc.), but this is unmistakably Andy Samberg’s movie. ![]() ![]() Also, it helps that the movie is damn funny from start to finish. Having now actually seen Hot Rod, I can confirm that Samberg can be occasionally exhausting within the film, but his antics are broken up & balanced by enough other comedic voices that it’s not really a problem. With the enthusiasm & self-restraint of a toddler hopped up on sugar, Samberg sounded like he could be a chore (babysitting, specifically) at a 90 min stretch. I used to find Samberg occasionally funny on Saturday Night Live, but it was difficult to imagine him being tolerable for more than just a few minutes at a time. Although I’ve only ever heard good things about the Andy Samberg vehicle Hot Rod, I’ve been avoiding actually watching it, because, you know, Andy Samberg.
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