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Without a Paddle
Deliverance with laughs

Starring: Seth Green, Matthew Lillard, Dax Shepard, Abraham Benrubi, Rachel Blanchard, Burt Reynolds
Director: Steven Brill
Screenwriters: Harris Goldberg, Tom Nursall, Jay Leggett, Mitch Rouse

Reviewed by Larry Stanley

Picture City Slickers. But without Jack Palance, younger guys out in the wild and a lot funnier, and you have Without a Paddle. This is a very funny film.

And I say that with a bit of a surprised feeling since I figured it would just be another teen P.O.C. with nothing but boobs and butt. I was wrong, and am very happy to be able to say that.

"That wasn't a pig squealing... was it?"

Without a Paddle as directed by Steven Brill, is a completely goofy but entertaining comedy. Despite the fact that the characters are all supposed to be 30 year olds, the three adult actors are best known for their work in various teen antics films.

The three act more like teens anyway than a lot of real teens do in movies and are actually more likable as adults then they are as teens. Dan, Jerry and Tom are the three friends reunited at the funeral of their fourth friend, a world traveler who experienced all the things they wanted to, from climbing Mount Everest to meeting the President of the United States to sleeping with very beautiful women.

The three guys discover that their dead friend actually wanted all of them to go in search of D.B. Coopers treasure (and if you don't know who D.B. was, look it up. What the heck are they teaching kids anymore?) in the wilds of Oregon.

So, they set off using a treasure map left behind in their old club house. They take a canoe trip deep into the backwoods of Oregon, where they meet beautiful women and crazed rednecks who are growing pot. Strangely, all the folks in Oregon speak like they are from the South.

What is really strange is that with all the natural beauty in Oregon, the film was actually done in New Zealand. It is easy to see that the movie is a spoof of Deliverance. And it even has Burt Reynolds appearing as a mountain man who has been alone in his cabin for 30 years.

And they tossed in stuff from Star Wars to Jurassic Park to some of John Candy's best work as well. And Seth Green does a great C-3PO impression. And like every movie since it first started, they even had bullet time ala The Matrix. And this time it was funny.

The men all work well together, with a great film friendship that never seems to be strained. Despite the fights, the arguments over who did what or who said what they all work together to help each other and to protect each other. They are more then just friends in the film, they are family.

The physical comedy is excellent, from Seth Green in a fetal position as the is taken away by a bear to the cliff jumping scenes. Even Seth eating squirrel is funny.

One of the best scenes is when the guys are rescued by two new age hippy girls, Butterfly (Christina Moore) and Flower (Rachel Blanchard) who are living in a giant Redwood to protect it.

The guys get to hear about the way rain can make a girl feel all… Funny… which leads into a truly excellent scene a few minutes later when the boys are huddled together in a cave to stay warm. Admittedly, I can see why a lot of people won't like this movie.

First, it was written a bit more intelligently then the usual round of teen comedy garbage. While the language was rough in some places, profanity reliance was kept to a moderate level, and there wasn't a need to resort to gratutitous nudity.

But it was still a fun way to escape for an hour or so.

Rating:

(3 out of 4 stars)

Larry Stanley is the editor and publisher of Penguin Comics and Movies, located at http://www.penguincomics.net and has done over 500 movie reviews in his career. He is also a contributing reviewer to Cultcuts magazine (http://www.cultcuts.net) and Columbia360 (http://www.columbia360.com/) as well the magazine Devine Exploitation.

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