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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   "Hot Rod" (3 stars) Moronic to the max: A really stupid comedy in the tradition of "Meatballs" or "Billy Madison," with Andy Samberg as a stuntman who is hopelessly ill-suited to his vocation. The movie is often very funny, with an absurdist streak, but you have to be tuned into its intentionally moronic goal. Rated: PG-13 rating is for violence, language, subject matter Now showing: Alderwood, Everett, Galaxy Monroe, Marysville, Mountlake, Meridian, Woodinville, Cascade   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, August 3, 2007 A stupid comedy for today By Robert Horton, Herald Movie Critic Every generation needs a really stupid comedy to call its own. "Meatballs," "Ace Ventura - Pet Detective," "Billy Madison." Movies that are so aggressively dumb, it's guaranteed that Establishment types - parents, teachers, movie reviewers - won't get them. Such a film is "Hot Rod," a deliberately lunkheaded, often very funny new film. It's the first starring vehicle for Andy Samberg, a young "Saturday Night Live" cast member whose short films have skyrocketed him into the YouTube stratosphere. In "Hot Rod," Samberg plays Rod Kimble, a moronic kid whose biological father was the son of legendary daredevil Evel Knievel's test rider. There is little evidence for this in Rod's own stuntman career, which generally puts him face-first into the back of a parked van. The plot has Rod and his friends staging a big public jump in order to raise $50,000 for an operation for Rod's much-hated stepfather (Ian McShane). Rod has never beaten him in their periodic hand-to-hand fights in the basement, and he wants the old man to get well so he can finally triumph. This blissfully idiotic storyline is just enough to hang a series of visual and vocal gags on. These will not be universally acclaimed. In fact, this movie depends on a certain segment of the audience not getting it (parents, teachers, etc.). To give a hint of what is in store, know that there is a scene that consists of Rod and someone else repeating the words "Cool beans" to each other over and over again, in a demonstration of absurdity that outlives its comic usefulness until it breaks through into an almost drunken hilarity. There's also a long sequence of Rod psyching himself up by dancing in the forest, a kind of weird tribute to an 1980s workout movie like, say, "Gymkata." The joke requires that you understand that, and also understand how awful it is. Samberg is supported by the other members of his pre-"SNL" comedy group, The Lonely Island, co-star Jorma Taccone and director Akiva Schaffer. He's also got able assistance from "SNL" cast members Bill Hader and Chris Parnell, and "Wedding Crashers" actress Isla Fisher. Oh, and Sissy Spacek is in the cast, too. Sissy Spacek is a trouper. I don't know if this movie will find its audience in movie theaters, but it will find its audience. Then everyone will share its wisdom: "All great men have mustaches." Andy Samberg stars in "Hot Rod."

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