Movie Info:
Writers:Fred Wolf, Harris Goldberg
Director: Steven Brill
Cast: Matthew Price, Andrew Hampton, Jarred Rumbold, Carl Snell, Antony Starr, Dax Shepard, Matthew Lillard, Seth Green, Nadine Bernecker, Danielle Cormack
Rating: PG-13
Studio: Paramount

Release Info:
Theatrical Release: August 20, 2004
DVD Release Date: May 12, 2009
Online Availability: Amazon for $19.49

So some guys go on a camping trip. These guys don’t seem like they are made for camping. They do stupid things as a result. They make themselves look like dumbasses. They get wet. They are, in effect, up the creek, Without a Paddle. It’s okay that these guys make themselves look stupid though because this is essentially a parody film. Imagine films like Deliverance and City Slickers and then make them super-silly and you have Without a Paddle. The thing that makes this work as a parody is that you have Seth Green, Matthew Lillard, and Dax Shepard as the stars. Unless the camping was going on at a West Hollywood bar it’s hard to imagine any of these three guys doing it.

This is your typical fish out of water comedy. There are some laughs, but you aren’t going to be floored by anything you see here. The acting is on par for what you would expect out of a comedy like this. If anything could go wrong, it does and it leaves you opting out of the next camping trip, especially if you’re not educated in the art of outdoor exploration. It’s more the writing that I have a problem with. It feels like it was written for a fifth grader posing as an adult. The comedy is anything but intelligent. It’s all juvenile gags and poop humor.

Surprisingly, I did not catch this the first time around. I didn’t see it in the theaters and didn’t have a chance to review it when it was on DVD. I guess it was bound to catch up to me sooner or later. Now that it finally has, I wish that it hadn’t bothered. It’s not the worst comedy I’ve ever seen, but almost two hours later I cannot shake the feeling that I wasted my time watching it. I can honestly say that Without a Paddle left me with nothing positive once it was finished. Sadly, the movies that don’t leave anything worth thinking about are the worst movies that you can find.

The Without A Paddle Plot
Jerry (Matthew Lillard – In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale), Dan (Seth Green – Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy), Tom (Dax Shepard), and Billy all grew up as childhood friends. Unfortunately, ten years out of high school, Billy ends up dying in a para-sailing accident in Costa Rica. Upon learning this, the three friends get together in the old tree house and end up hatching a plan to go on a camping trip to find D.B. Cooper’s lost treasure.

The main problem with this is that the three guys are outdoor idiots. They forget to bring any food with them. They get chased by grizzly bears or in the case of Dan, become one of their cubs (dead squirrel isn’t as appetizing to a human). They even lose all of their worldly possessions and end up with a torn map, thanks to the aforementioned bear. Needless to say, this is just the beginning and things do not look good for these three guys.

They lose their canoe in an accident going down a waterfall (they did lose their map, after all) and end up with absolutely nothing. This leads them to a pot farm, where the two farmers Dennis (Abraham Benrubi ER ) and Elwood (Ethan Suplee The Year without a Santa Claus) think the three men are crooks trying to rob them, so they shoot to protect their dope and ask questions later. They manage to get away, but not before getting stoned, on accident, of course.

The guys manage to escape, but when the weed farm gets torched, the pot farmers are out for blood! Luckily though, the three guys meet some nice hippies living in trees that give them food and are on hand to throw poop at the bad guys. You gotta love hippies right? Things begin to look like they might be alright at this point, but with a movie like this one never knows.

You will see three naked guys snuggling before the picture is finished. However, the goal of the men is to find the treasure and whether or not these three bumbling idiots will be able to do that depends on the pot farmers, the cops, and a bunch of other wildlife factors that remain to be seen.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
Without a Paddle is a fairly new movie so the transfer here isn’t really anything to complain about. The specs include a 2.35:1 aspect ratio with 1080p and AVC encoding.

The color levels are bright and supportive of the film and they always appear very natural, which is important due to the film setting. Most importantly, the depth and detail are present in the tiniest things. Every little detail is put up front for you to see. It lends a great deal to this film. A few specks can be seen here and there, but for the most part this is a stable and pleasing release.

Like many Blu-rays these days, the sound for Without a Paddle is produced in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. This is a dialogue driven comedy, so in the complete scheme of things there isn’t much going on. The surround sound is going to be used to the full capability and things are going to remain rather tame from start to finish. The volume is fine, but amusingly enough there is a bit of the Kung-fu effect for part of the film. It’s always funny when the lips and voices don’t move in synch, but as that was not the plan originally, it doesn’t win any special points. Along with the English track, Spanish and French tracks are included in Dolby Digital 5.1. Subtitles are present in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
Without a Paddle offers a few special features include a commentary, some interstitials, deleted scenes, and a featurette or two. The commentary is with the director, Steven Brill. The commentary gives you a chance to learn about both technical and non-technical happenings on the film. Some trivia is offered up and some information on everything from the actors to using weapons in the film. This is followed up by a video commentary, which also features Brill though this time he is with Shepard, Green, and Lillard. This is more amusing than the commentary just because of the back and forth banter that is included.

“MTV’s Making the Movie: Without a Paddle” is a twenty minute look at the making of the film. The cast and crew are on hand to discuss the overall plot of the film and what it was like when they were filming. It’s not a bad feature, but it’s pretty basic overall.

Things are rounded out with 13 deleted scenes with the option of commentary, six MTV Interstitials and the theatrical trailer for the film.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
Without a Paddle is a hit or miss comedy. There are more than a few laughs here, but my problem is with the staying power of the actual film. You have a few minutes of laughter, but at the end of the day you end up forgetting this movie fairly quickly. That being said, I would recommend you see it to make up your own mind, but I would rent it before rushing out to buy this one. You just might find you want to spend your money on something else instead.

Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: Blu-ray Review, Comedy, Camping, Paramount, Without A Paddle, Dax Shepard, Matthew Lillard, Seth Green