Hot Rod Reviews

As I sat watching Hot Rod, I was constantly reminded of Napoleon Dynamite. Each have sort of a YouTube-esque feel, and they both revolve around similar characters and feature very similar humor. The primary differences between the two films is that Hot Rod has more well-known actors, a bigger budget, and very, very few successful gags. Napoleon Dynamite was no masterpiece, but it at least provided a sufficient amount of chuckles to satisfy audiences willing to accept it for what it is. In the case of a film like Hot Rod, even those willing to be entertained by Hot Rod on its own terms will find very little to laugh, or even smile at.

Rod Kimble wishes to be a stuntman like his late father, and is constantly doing stupid stunts. Rod is sadly inept, so many stunts end with him getting hurt. Rod wishes to prove to his stepfather that he is a man, though, and the only way Rod can do this, is to beat his stepfather up. So, when Rod's stepfather has a heart condition that requires a heart transplant for him to live, Rod must raise the money for this, so that his stepfather can live long enough to see Rod prove himself to be a man.

The humor is simply dumb. The many gags in this movie can only be described as idiotic, aiming for those with high toleration for such idiocy, or for those with low maturity. It goes without saying, though I'll say it anyway: Hot Rod is not for those looking for a sophisticated comedy.

There are various points in this film where events occur for seemingly no reason other than to create hilarity. A random street brawl suddenly occurs during one scene, and the chaos only served to give me a head ache as opposed to the laughter that Hot Rod was trying to achieve. There are many other examples of this throughout the film, too numerous to name. It just feels like the writers were too lazy to write a series of cohesive events, so basically anything goes in this movie.

Many gags are painfully unfunny. Some are quite predictable. One supposedly humorous scene involves Rod beating up his 60 year-old stepfather, but this is more painful and sad to watch than funny.

I already knew I probably wouldn't like this film before it even started. But seeing as Hot Rod isn't even a full 90 minutes, I figured any pain would be brief. Unfortunately for me, the film just seems to go on forever. Unfunny comedies often feel long, but this felt like an eternity.

The cast does try pretty hard, but the material is so unfunny, it's hard to blame the performances for being as weak as they are. Andy Samberg plays the imbecilic Rod Kimble perfectly. It's a shame he doesn't do anything particularly funny. The other cast members aren't even worth mentioning.

The score, composed by Trevor Rabin, consists of terribly dated sounding synthesizer tunes that sound like a nightmare from the 80's. It's simply terrible, and the soundtrack consists of an assortment of dated rock songs. Between the "music" and the awful screenplay, I wonder if I would have enjoyed Hot Rod more if the film was set on mute.

Hot Rod is stupid. There really is no other way to describe it. Even Hot Rod's biggest defenders would have a difficult time denying that. The few gags that are worth smiling or laughing at actually make you feel guilty for doing so, simply because the humor is so absurdly dumb. Even those in the mood for a mindless comedy will certainly be disappointed by this obvious cash-in on the Napoleon Dynamite trend.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I have weak spot for Isla Fisher, I still wanted to check it out. Basically, it is one of those movies made by some SNL alumni and like most of those, it was a flop when it was released. Honestly, I don’t think it really deserved a better faith as the whole thing was barely funny. I don’t know, I really find it difficult to laugh at someone because they are stupid or because they are hurting themselves so, I guess, I wasn’t really the right audience for this flick. There was one scene which I really enjoyed though. It was this scene, in the woods, when they parodied ‘Footloose’. It was indeed quite hilarious and the big fall following was pretty good as well. But everything before or after didn’t make me laugh much and I think it would have been more interesting or funny if the main character would have been mentally retarded, at least, it would have made more sense. Eventually, I thought the whole thing was actually rather sad and therefore far from being hilarious. And once again, it was yet another disappointing feature starring the lovely Isla Fisher. Seriously, she seems really talented but she always shows up in the most underwhelming features and, this time, she didn’t have anything interesting to do except falling in love with the lead character which was utterly unconvincing. And don’t even mention Sissy Spacek. I though it was rather baffling to see an actress of her caliber, an Academy Award winner, showing up for such a thankless job. To be honest, there were a few good ideas and I enjoyed the feud with the dying step-dad but most of the movie was just cringe-inducing. To conclude, it is a really average comedy and it is not really worth a look, even if you like the genre.

"I'd rather die than live in a world where I can't kick your ass."

It'd be reasonable to dive straight into the crucial problem with Hot Rod - the filmmakers behind it attempted to expand a one-joke premise (the type that might have worked in a Saturday Night Live short) into a feature-length motion picture. The product is a 10-minute gem stretched out to a lazy 85-minute goof which can't even begin to sustain its wafer-thin premise over the comparatively bloated runtime. The sporadic flashes of inspiration and a few funny moments are overwhelmed by a lot of aimless noodling around and silly pratfalls in lieu of genuine wit and cleverness. While this was intended to be a lovable loser comedy, Hot Rod comes across as a product assembled with an Allen key designed for quick sale that was made to cash in on the likes of Napoleon Dynamite and Anchorman. The leading role was originally written for Will Ferrell, and the antics of Andy Samberg in the film are quite derivative of cinema's leading Man-Child. This is Samberg's feature film debut, but while he's a performer of sizeable energy, his range of laugh impact is limited.

The story, such as it is, centres on a self-proclaimed stuntman named Rod Kimble (Samberg). Rod was raised to believe his now deceased biological father was Evel Knievel's test rider, and he dreams of one day being able to defeat his step-father Frank (McShane) in a fight. When Frank is in urgent need of a heart transplant, Rod decides to raise $50,000 for the operation by staging a stunt that's worthy of Evel Knievel: jumping 15 buses (one more than Knievel ever dared). Supported by his loyal crew - younger half-brother Kevin (Taccone), friends Dave (Hader) and Rico (McBride), as well as Denise (Fisher) who lives next door - Rod begins to plan his big jump so he can keep Frank alive and finally kick his ass.

It would appear that Samberg, screenwriter Pam Brady and director Akiva Schaffer put together a literal checklist for each scene in order to maximise the comic potential. Funny shirts? Got it. Funny hair? Check. Funny words and/or pronunciation? Uh huh. Funny song? Yes indeedy. The problem with the gags in Hot Rod, though, is that the "funny" is relative - which means it's funny to see a mate of yours engaged in these antics because you know their personality. Unfortunately without the benefit of this perspective, the goofs are sometimes amusing, but more often less so, and the film comes across as more of a self-indulgent series of skits. It seems that the filmmakers also have a real familiarity and affection for '80s movie conventions. In particular, Hot Rod employs the increasingly clichéd framework of John Hughes films/teen coming-of-age stories as a backdrop for the series of disconnected gags. This framework necessitates a competitor for Denise's affection, a second act revelation about Rod's father that shatters his confidence, and a final, triumphant slow-motion middle-of-the-street march that leads to his redemptive jump attempt.

The fact that the crew behind Hot Rod are Saturday Night Live alumni would explain why the movie feels like an extended skit. Rather than aiming for honest laughs through clever writing or carefully nurtured comedic set-pieces, the filmmakers opt for a veritable salad of movie references, bone-crunching pratfalls, flat-out silliness and pointless comic digressions. The sequences in which Rod's ill-advised stabs at stunt-work result in him being bashed, burned and nearly drowned may be amusing when witnessed in two-minute chunks on YouTube, but seeing then running one after the other for close to 90 minutes grows tedious. Rod is a dolt who ends up failing and getting hurt not due to bad luck or an inability to judge his abilities and shortcomings - it's because he's an idiot. This could have worked if he was an endearing idiot, but he's no Will Ferrell or Inspector Clouseau. Granted, Hot Rod does supply a few laughs. Then again, it's not hard to laugh at brutal pratfalls (the producers of Jackass made millions off that premise). But one can only laugh at Rod's missteps and poor stunts a few times before they're just no longer funny. Furthermore, the punch lines are incredibly predictable. While training for the big jump, Rod asks his friends to hold him underwater for a period of time to strengthen his lungs. You can easily predict what's going to happen...

There's no doubt the guys behind Hot Rod can be funny. However the dynamics (specifically in concept, timing and execution) that work for a short comedy sketch don't translate into success for a cohesive feature film. It's for this reason that isolated bits and pieces of the film are funny, but if taken as a whole it fails to gel. Even then, the film doesn't necessitate repeated viewings and after seeing it once it loses much of the comedic punch it originally packed. At the very least, Hot Rod is a breezy farce and a fun watch that's fairly easy to enjoy, and it also manages to provide an answer to the eternal question: who would win in a fight between a grilled cheese sandwich and a taco?

4.9/10

"I'd rather die than live in a world where I can't kick your ass."

This sort of stuff usually isn't my 'type' of humour, but I got through watching this with a few laughs. It wasn't hysterically funny, but I enjoyed watching it.

The story focus's on Rod Kimble, who believes that he is destined to become a superstar stuntman. When his step-dad needs an operation which his family can't afford, Rod and his friends come up with a plan for him to try and set a record of jumping over a number of school busses on a motorbike. This, he hopes, will raise enough money for the operation so that his step-dad is well enough to fight him so that Rod can kill him himself. It's not really all that seriously, just a friendly rivalry.

Andy Samberg was definitely funny, and although some jokes were lame.. he actually made his character a lot more interesting. Isla Fisher was forgettable. Bill Hader was brilliant, as he is in every other movie. Oh, and Will Arnett wasn't half bad for his small role in this. So although some things in this were incredibly lame and stupid, others actually turned out quite funny. See this for yourself, but don't expect anything amazing.

i got thru 22 minutes of this crap, didn't even smile once, shook my head in disgust at least 8 times, and then shut it off. even as a free download, i felt cheated and robbed. that's 22 minutes I could've been doing something more productive, such as cleaning mud from my shoes, or scrubbing behind the toilet, or perhaps getting some cavities worked on. all of that would've been more enjoyable as well.

It was trying to be 'napoleon dynamite' - funny and pointless. but Hot Rod missed the 'funny' part, so instead just ended up being pointless.