SG of note: Chug has not felt well at all this week. As such, to continue with a Broken Lizard theme for this month, he’s phoning in reposting his review of Beerfest. Next week will see a new review, though.
Beerfest starts out with a disclaimer warning the audience not to try this it at home. Why is this? Because you’ll die, that’s why. They have a point. Imitating the actions of the characters, or even build a drinking game behind this maddeningly uproarious, sud-soaked comedy aimed straight at the frat boy set (or just about anyone that likes to laugh), is to invite mortal peril, or at least a ridiculously bad hangover. With that in mind, let us please neglect to point out that this movie reviewer goes by the name of “Chugs.”
Beerfest, the Broken Lizard Comedy Troupe‘s first film for Warner Brothers, is probably their most accessible yet. The jokes come fast and furious (but not 2 Fast, 2 Furious) and with a broader attack, many of which hit the mark and undoubtedly many which will really sink in on the second, third or fiftieth viewing. As is the case for Broken Lizard films, the movie gets better with repeat viewings both for seeing how others react to your favorite jokes, but also because these are packed with so many of them. It’s impossible for them all to connect the first time around. It’s bad form to expose them in a review, so I’ll just say that there’s plenty of quotable lines, moments of slapstick, sight gags, and fun stuff galore to please not only the initiated but new viewers as well. It’s a very fun movie, one with some scattershot aspirations but a nice complement to the other great comedies of the year, primarily Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby and Thank You For Smoking. It is by definition a party movie of the highest order and will undoubtedly teach as many existing drinking games to the people as it does create new ones. “Drink every time Bobo (or is it Popo?) the German puppet is seen or referenced.” “Drink every time one of the German team guys steals the show.” “Drink every time someone else drinks.”
Scratch that last one. As warned in the film’s opening crawl, you will die. Beerfest Clan ain’t nuttin’ ta F’ wit’.
How’s this brouhaha (oral pun intended) set up? Brothers Todd (Erik Stolhanske) and Jan Wolfhouse (Paul Soter) travel to Germany’s Oktoberfest to spread their grandfather’s ashes, only to discover that the festival hides a secret. Happening at the same time is an ancient, secret competition, a kind of alcohol Olympics: Beerfest. Think of it as like the Laughalympics, but with more beer, less Blue Falcon, and more Dick Dastardly. Todd and Jan, who pride themselves on both their drinking and drinking gamesmanship, are at first delighted and fascinated, but then horrified when they meet the reigning champs, the Von Wolfhausens, their Deutschland based relatives.
The Germans insult their American kinfolk, mock their grandfather, and debase the reputation of the boys’ beloved Great Gam Gam (Cloris Leachman). It’s a challenge that’s not to be taken lying down, and they return home feeling determined to win the next Beerfest. Gathering together old drinking pals, science nerd Fink (Steve Lemme), chug-aholic Landfill (Kevin Heffernan), and the unsettled Barry Badrinath (Beerfest director Jay Chandrasekhar), they plan on spending the next 12 months in heavy training. But it’s a year filled with questions: Did their grandfather really swipe the recipe for the world’s best beer? Just how did Great Gam Gam earn a living back in Germany? Can Landfill drink to success (and excess) and remain married? What of Fink’s experiments with frogs? Is Barry really so troubled by his dark past that he can no longer play beer pong (but plays a mean game of quarters)? And what is the secret to winning the most difficult competition of all, “Das Boot?”
Sound silly and more than a bit crazy? It is, and god does it ever work. It is also ribald, outrageous, shameless, and oddly warmhearted. The comedy troupe is willing to try anything, almost throwing jokes out there just to see if they’ll stick. They get away with more than they should, probably, coasting on their own charm and in the stroke of genius that led them to cast Leachman as Great Gam Gam and Jurgen Prochnow as the evil Baron Wolfgang von Wolfhausen.
Classic stuff. Stuff that grows on you. Stuff that makes its way into heavy DVD rotation. Remember how you kept playing Super Troopers over and over, despite having seen it three times already? Prepare for the sequel (at least, in spirit). It goes down smooth, with a fine caramel-citrus taste.
9 late night, full price pitchers out of 10, along with a puked on sidewalk.