HOT ROD [PG-13]
When Adam Sandler started to move away from the kind of frat boy comedies like Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore that made him famous to concentrate on more high-minded fare like Punch-Drunk Love, Spanglish and Reign Over Me, he left a void that has gone long unfilled. Now, though, “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels has stepped up to spackle that tragic gap with this threadbare comedy about a self-styled stuntman named Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg) who plans to jump 15 motorcycles so that he can raise the money to pay for a heart transplant for his ailing stepfather, Frank (Ian McShane of “Deadwood”). Too much of the movie is the kind of stunts that Bob Einstein (as “Super Dave Osbourne”) was wearing out 25 years ago on Showtime’s “Bizarre.” Here, they are just fake “Jackass” pratfalls. If the writing were better, we would know if Rod was some kind of Gump-like man-child or just a lazily penned simp without a catchphrase. Even as a sketch on the show, the idea would be conceptually underdeveloped; as a movie, it is loaded with one too many “wouldn’t it be cool if?” moments. “SNL” regulars Bill Hader and Chris Parnell are throwaways, and super-cute Isla Fisher (The Wedding Crashers) is just window dressing. The dynamic between Rod and Frank is kind of fun, though — with Rod getting the old man better only so he can finally kick his ass in a fight — and there are some inspired moments of high-weirdness, like when a taco fights a grilled cheese sandwich (according to prison rules) in Heaven — but the rest, like the baby-faced goofball Samberg — is still incubating. –Robert Newton
THE ICKIEST PROMO ITEM…EVER!
Studios sometimes produce functional and novelty items with which to promote their wares, and Paramount has gone beyond weird to slightly creepy to pimp their ride, Hot Rod…with boys’ underwear. Select members of the press received the grey “Stunt-A-Wear” underwear set, a boys size medium undershirt featuring poster art from the movie and underpants with the logo “Team Rod” across the front and “Smack Destiny In The Face” across the back. Paramount stayed just this side of vile by not including a fake ’70s porn star mustache, like the one Samberg wears in the film. No word as to whether or not Warner Brothers will adopt a similar marketing strategy with Victor Salva’s upcoming The Summoner, nor is there any indication as to how coveted the item is on NAMBLA’s auction site, bBay*. –R.N.
* - which we made up for the purpose of this joke
