WE'RE LIKE LUXEMBOURG, EXACTLY LIKE LUXEMBOURG: Except that Luxembourg doesn't have everybody piling-on calling it a piece of crap when it's really just an inoffensive and enjoyable little spot doing its amiable best to provide what it promises in its unassuming promotional material, which, frankly, shouldn't have lead anyone to develop such high expectations in the first place. I mean, if you want something you can make a big freaking deal about, you should go see Paris, or New York, or Shanghai . . . but instead I went to see Starsky & Hutch.
For the record, I had to go see the movie, because my mom wouldn't let me watch the original TV show. CHiPs was okay, but I think Starsky & Hutch got too much booty to be allowed into the house while the kids were young and impressionable. Of course, mom's not-so-secret thing for Erik Estrada may also have been a factor.
*ahem*
Anyway, Starsky & Hutch admittedly is not An Important Film. It is not Paris Is Burning. It is not Hercules In New York. It is not even truly on a level with Shanghai Knights (which may be the best buddy movie ever, or at least the best since Running Scared), but it's not nearly as godawful and disappointing as many reviewers have suggested.
Starsky & Hutch stars:
Ben Stiller, as Ben Stiller;
Owen Wilson, as Owen Wilson;
Fred Williamson, as Fred Williamson;
Snoop Dogg, as Huggy Bear, and
Vince Vaughn, as The Bad Guy.
It's thought provoking. Including thoughts like "Dude, that was Jason Bateman? Where's he been?" and "How much of Juliette Lewis exactly did they leave on the cutting room floor?" and "Carmen Electra's boso -- um, performance certainly was riveting, at least compared to her prior work on BattleBots." and "Whoa! It's that guy from Resevoir Dogs!"
There are some cringe-inducing moments, of course, and some things that just don't work, but also a few really great scenes with Snoop and some Will Ferrell sequences that will make you squirm and giggle and wonder if the writers are deliberately parodying Red Dragon or just goofing off. (I like to think it was deliberate.) The signature Starsky & Hutch car is also used to great effect on several occassions.
Folks who have axes to grind with Stiller, Wilson, formulaic nostalgia movies or formulaic buddy movies should probably steer clear, but those who go into the theater with reasonably well-adjusted expectations will enjoy Starsky & Hutch enough to justify the price of admission and pop-corn (and parking, probably, if the theater validates and you don't live in New York or San Francisco).
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