Bruce Berman, Bill Gerber, Dana Goldberg, Eric McLeod & Greg Silverman
Screenplay:
John O'Brien & Jonathan L. Davies
(based on characters created by Gy Waldron)
Cinematographer:
Lawrence Sher
Music:
Nathan Barr
Cast:
Luke Duke: Johnny Knoxville
Bo Duke: Seann William Scott
Boss Hogg: Burt Reynolds
Daisy Duke: Jessica Simpson
Uncle Jesse: Willie Nelson
Deputy Enos Strate: Michael Weston
Billy Prickett: James Roday
Roscoe P. Coltrane: M.C. Gainey
Cooter: David Koechner
Sheev: Kevin Heffernan
Movie adaptations of old TV shows are nothing new.
The early '90s gave us The Flintstones, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Brady Bunch and The Addams
Family, while the trend has returned recently with Starsky & Hutch and
Bewitched. As you can see, the quality of such projects differs wildly...
Director Jay Chandrasekhar, part of comedy troupe Broken Lizard, itself
responsible for 2001 cult comedy Super Troopers, takes charge of the
big-screen incarnation of '80s TV smash-hit The Dukes Of Hazzard.
Starring Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott as Luke and Bo Duke, The
Dukes Of Hazzard is a fairly straight-forward adaptation of the TV source
material - itself essentially a series of car chases between the roguish
Duke boys in their '69 Dodge Charger, "The General Lee", and the incompetent
local police - led by white-suited Boss Hogg.
Without much meat to sink its teeth into, The Dukes Of Hazzard feels like a
low-rent comedy coasting on audience affability to the TV series. You can
feel the filmmakers ticking off TV show references as they go, which will
perhaps be lost on anyone over the age of 25 anyway!
To his credit, Chandrehesker effectively mimics the style of the knockabout
'70s car-chase comedies - such as Burt Reynolds' own Smokey & The Bandit
series. It was inspired casting for Reynolds to take the movie's villainous
role as Boss Hogg, but unfortunately he's sidelined most of the time and
struggles to make much of an impact on proceedings.
Knoxville and Scott exhibit a degree of jocular chemistry together, but are
both hamstrung by a script that gives the supporting cast more laughs -
particularly Kevin Heffernan's armadillo-wearing weirdo Sheev. A ridiculous
interlude with the Dukes arriving at Atlanta University and posing as
Japanese scientists is almost unbearably unfunny and only salvaged by cameos
from Chandrasekhar's Super Troopers characters - who have zero recognition
for 95% of the audience anyway!
Jessica Simpson struts around in low-cut denim shorts and a bright pink
bikini as Daisy Duke. She even manages to grin her way through some
double-entendres without causing too much damage to the movie. Truth is, as
desperately sad as this may sound, she's without doubt a highlight thanks to
the film's low gag quotient and meandering storyline. In using Simpson as
advertising bait for movie-going young men (check out the music video!),
it's a little cruel she's so underused.
Country & Western singing legend Willie Nelson, in another piece of inspired
casting, plays wily Uncle Jessie - but without success, primarily thanks to
a screenplay that squanders characters and forgets to include jokes. Nelson,
while visually perfect, is perhaps even more wooden than Jessica Simpson!
The plot (or excuse connecting various forgettable set-pieces, as I prefer
to think of it) concerns Boss Hogg organizing a rally so the citizens of
Hazzard County won't protest in court about him demolishing land to drill
for coal. As a through-line, it's serviceable hokum, but it's so mis-shapen
you realize you weren't even aware there was a plot until the last twenty
minutes.
For fans of the TV show, the movie lacks the original's charm and
excitement, but does contain some fun nods to the '80s hit. The "yee-hawing"
and iconic car horn are fundamental, but a running gag about the Dukes being
unable to use car doors, the Dukes facing protests of racism thanks to the
General Lee's rooftop Confederate flag, and the correct pronunciation of
"Enos" hit home nicely. A shame the rest of the film didn't exhibit the same
level of wit. There aren't even any cameos from the original cast - a
crying shame given the cult appeal of Catherine Bach (Daisy) and the fact
John Schneider (Luke) now has a prominent role on TV's Smallville (watched
by this movie's target audience!)
Still, what did you really expect from a Dukes Of Hazzard movie? Nobody
expected this to be cinematic nirvana, but with mostly unexciting car
chases, no real laughs, and an unforgivable lack of Jessica Simpson in
skimpy outfits, the movie's more tiresome than it had any right to be.
All credit to Chandrasekhar for not simply copying last year's Starsky &
Hutch formula by semi-parodying the show, and the casting is particularly
interesting throughout (Lynda "Wonder Woman" Wagner!), but without a
coherent and funny script... this was a lost cause from the moment "them
good ol' boys" leap across their first wooden bridge...
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
