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Directed by: Jay Chandrashekhar Starring: Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Cloris Leachman, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme Beerfest is the latest release from comedy group Broken Lizard, whose previous works have had mixed success. They are most well known for their second film, Super Troopers, which was a surprise hit at the box office. They have also previously released two other works: their first film, Puddle Cruiser, and their horror-spoof Club Dread. Most fans have been apprehensive about Beerfest after many were disappointed by the change of genre in Club Dread. Rarely do I go into a movie with high expectations, but I am such a big fan of Super Troopers that I was sucked into the Beerfest hype from the first preview. Overall I was not disappointed, and I was happy with the way they were able to work in clever laughs throughout the entire film without anything wearing thin. The theater was pretty full, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves from start to finsih. Fans of Super Troopers will definitely appreciate this film. Beerfest starts out with the basic premise that Jan and Todd Wolfhouse (Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske of Broken Lizard/Super Troopers fame) need to make a trip to Germany to place the ashes of their recently deceased grandfather in the family burial shrine. Their Great Gam Gam (great grandmother Cloris Leachman) tells them that they must hurry because the ashes may only be placed in the shrine during Oktoberfest. One of the first scenes in Germany was a classic, with a domino effect of women's shirts being ripped off. The boys eventually end up at an underground beer drinking competition, which happens to be located at the family burial shrine. At the competition they are ridiculed and humiliated by their long-lost cousins, while being informed of some dark family secrets. When the brothers Wolfhouse shamefully return to the US, they vow to form a team for next year's competition in order to reclaim the family pride. After this you have the typical introductions/gathering of teammates, training, and return to the competition. The plot and script do not break any new ground, but I was very pleased with the overall feel of the comedy. While much of the cheeky and sarcastic humor of Super Troopers is retained, there is a fair amount of comedy swearing and nudity that earned a few laughs. The over-the-top German accents and abusive exchanges between characters were an important part of the humor. Steve Lemme's Steve "Fink" Finklestein seemed forced and out of place at times, which was disappointing because his role as "Mac" in Super Troopers was perfect. I was worried that the previews would give away too many of the jokes, but the humor was so consistently paced that the comedy surface was barely scratched. It is good to note that some of the scenes from the previews were not actually shown in the theater release of the film. In summary: While Beerfest may not be as funny as Super Troopers, it is more diverse in its humor and is a solid, consistently funny film with excellent pacing. If you have enjoyed previous Broken Lizard works, you will enjoy Beerfest. (edit) Go see it before some crazy people complain about it corrupting the youth, and the drinking games all get edited away. RATING: (After sleeping on it, I have upgraded to a 5.0/5.5 from my earlier 4.5/5.5) PROS: Solid comedy from all angles, no bit dragged on too long, many Super Troopers Easter Eggs in the script CONS: Sometimes painful acting/accents, some characters seemed a bit forced, my wife commented that some things were just too weird (although I think this would be a pro, for example: Jay's character, Barry, waking up bloody and naked next to a dead deer with its throat ripped out, after they all tried to finish their first keg), (edited to add) and a HUGE con was PAINFULLY bad CG in many scenes, most notably the last drink-off. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://imdb.com/title/tt0486551/ CatBus fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Aug 26, 2006 |
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Aug 26, 2006 06:10
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 13:48 |
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Just got back from seeing Beerfest here in Kalamazoo. I walked in with high expectations. I like the Broken Lizard crew, but it seems that since they got a budget everything has been going downhill. The jokes were a little out there and beaten into the ground quickly, particularly the sex jokes. Constant pokes at the German accents and cultural differences wore very thin very quickly. I am a snob though who enjoys German heritage, so i digress. The big relief through all this was Jürgen Prochnow's reference to his role in Das Boot. Many other jokes were dead on though, hence why i rated this flick a 2.5/5. All i thought about beyond the legitimate funny parts was the movie Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalo. The writers trying too hard and losing touch with more enjoyable, subtle comedy elements. 2.5/5
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Aug 26, 2006 07:27
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Personally I think all of the negative comments are completely ridiculous. I would compare Beerfest to Super Troopers on a level of extreme hilarity. The pacing of this movie is perfect, the introduction was excellent, and the comedy is just non-stop. I went in expecting Club Dread level of crap and instead I was completely blown away. Everyone cheered and even gave an ovation at the end, it really is that decent. I was in tears of laughter, and tears of happiness because Broken Lizard didn't gently caress up this film like the previous one. 5.0/5.5 If you're a Super Troopers/Broken Lizard fan, you really should see this with your friends. There's plenty of beer and tits for everyone.
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Aug 26, 2006 07:38
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I just saw this last night and having enjoyed Super Troopers and Club Dread I was going in with pretty high expectations and the movie didn't disappoint. As already mentioned, I thought the pacing was great and there were no dull moments. There are so many great moments, quotes, etc that I think I liked it almost as much as Super Troopers. What was really interesting was that there seemed to be a lot cut out of the movie (including some parts from the beer fest competition) that'll hopefully be put back into the unrated, super crazy, camel toe dvd version. The original cut was three hours so they should have a lot to put in. Otherwise, it was great, 5/5 if you're a Broken Lizard fan, and if not you should still give it a chance. Basically if you like the humor in the trailer then you'll probably like it and there were a lot of scenes in the movie that were better than the trailer.
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Aug 26, 2006 14:39
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I just finished watching it, and for the most part I laughed all the way through it. The ending was a bit slow for me, however. Also the story and characters were really thin. What plot twists there are aren't hard to pick up about 30 minutes before they happen. But, man, when the writers find a good joke they really know how to use it to its full potential. Not as good as Super Troopers, but definitely a funny movie. 4/5
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Aug 27, 2006 06:04
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Saw it last night with high expectations and wasnt dissappointed at all... Almost everyone I went with seemed to enjoy it. I was laughing pretty hard throughout the movie. It isn't better then supertroopers and doesnt have any 1-liners or quotable parts that helped make supertroopers and many comedies classics, so I don't imagine that, but it was a movie that will keep you laughing and entertained for a couple hours. 4/5
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Aug 27, 2006 19:04
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My expectations weren't amazingly high for this movie. I liked Super Troopers, and felt that Club Dread was a misunderstood comedy (Viewing it as a spoof of slasher movies increases enjoyment). But the concept of this movie blew my mind at how stupid it was. When I saw the previews and the title of the movie I instantly knew the crew had sold out. Basically, they had one uber-success (ST) and one movie that few people liked (CD) and realized that in order to make money, they should make a movie that the ST crowd would like (The college crowd) so they make a movie about drinking. The movie lacked the cleverness that both ST and CD had, save a few scenes Landfill coming back was genius, bringing him back without 'all the awkward getting to know you' stuff was great but I just felt that most of the jokes really weren't that funny and I maybe laughed out loud 3 times. 1.5/5
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Aug 31, 2006 00:38
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I just saw this movie last night and was definitely not dissapointed.Being a big fan of super troopers, I went in with very high expectations. I thought this movie was very funny, maybe not as funny as super troopers, but then again i didn't enjoy super troopers to its full potential until the third or fourth time i watched it. I must say there are a few parts that are just pure genius, When one of the germans screams "kill me now!, do it now, cmon, kill me im here! do it now! in a horrible german accent i nearly fell off my chair. I rated it a 5/5.5, because i think it has a lot of rewatchability, like super troopers.
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Sep 4, 2006 02:26
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Beerfest was a funny movie that contained the quirky, absurd humor that I enjoy so much. It's not the kind of movie that will be enjoyed by everyone by any means, but if you enjoyed Super Troopers then you'll probably enjoy Beerfest. 4.0
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Sep 4, 2006 09:20
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God, it was nice to see them get back to making decent comedies. This was especially funny for me after having lived in Germany for two years (Most young German men drink like pussies, so hard drinking Germans was funny right off the bat). The fake German accents reminded me of times my buddies and I would do it at work. Occasionally we'd go off post forgetting to knock it off, and would get either scowels or laughs from the locals. I didn't expect it to get German tradition or events or Oktoberfest (which should be on your life's to-do list) right. I didn't expect it to fairly portray Germans (if anything, they put them in a more favorable light than I would have). I did expect to laugh my rear end off, and that I did. I was really left with a bad taste in my mouth from Club Dred after laughing so drat hard at Super Troopers. This has restored my faith in Broken Lizard to make some funny poo poo). also, LO loving L at Donald Sutherland's cameo! I was laughing my rear end of watching him drink his rear end off from a hospital bed, and then pulling his own cord As far as gross-out comedies go. . . 4.1/5
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Sep 7, 2006 09:05
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Seen this poo poo twice, once sober, once not so sober. Great movie.
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Sep 9, 2006 21:08
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Barely knew a thing going into this movie and had only seen a little part of Supertroopers. I really enjoyed it. It was stupid, rude and just plain funny, i personally found it a lot funnier then Talladega Nights. 4/5
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Oct 7, 2006 18:15
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I saw this movie a few weeks ago and am still utterly unimpressed. I know that it's a comedy, and that Broken Lizard's budgets are usually pretty small, but I feel like this could have been put together by a bunch of ad hoc high school/college students. Monique was horrible. The only time I laughed was when they introduced Barry. Everything else just seemed forced and over-acted. 1/5.
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Oct 10, 2006 00:28
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Not quite as funny as Super Troopers, but close. It also had a pretty good story for a comedy. Can't wait for the DVD so I can see the extra 30 or so minutes they had to cut out, and also more of Team Sweden's tits. I laughed the hardest at the 'morning after' scene following the part where Barry gets drunk and goes home with a girl. Also Cloris Leachman did a pretty good job of acting, strangely enough. I recommend this to anyone who liked Super Troopers but didn't like Club Dread. 4.5/5
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Nov 3, 2006 22:27
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Just watched this last night, and I guess the best way to explain my experience would be: "I need to watch it again." There were a lot of funny jokes, my favorite being the return of Landfill in the most gloriously lazy way ever, and there were some that fell a little flat. However, even though there were some cheesy jokes, I think this movie will be a lot like my experience with Club Dread. Once you accept that not every movie BL puts out is Super Troopers, you can enjoy these films as seperately hilarious in their own way. Super Troopers was a spoof on highway police, Club Dread was a spoof on horror movies (and one of my favorite movies of all time,) and Beerfest is a spoof on a lot of things. Germans, college, drinking, Jews, a throwback to oldschool movies like Porky's, male whores and many other things As it stands, I would rank this movie a distant third behind the previously mentioned, but this is because I've only seen it once. I'm sure with more viewings, it will get better. 4/5
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Dec 27, 2006 16:13
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 13:48 |
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If you're the sort of retarded tosspot who thinks such puerile party antics like keg stands and beer bong chugs pass for "humor"...boy have I got a movie for you! Flawlessly following in the footsteps of such classic alcoholic movies as Animal House and Strange Brew, the folks from Broken Lizard have outdone themselves with an over the top and crowd pleasing romp about two German brothers who find themselves in the land of their ancestors to place the ashes of their father (a fantastic Donald Sutherland cameo that sets the pace for the next hour and a half) at a special shrine. After tripping through multiple faux pas, they are introduced by a mysterious contact to Beerfest, a malt beverage swilling celebration and competition roughly analogous to the kumite in Bloodsport. Here they find out their family line was a disgraced branch kicked out for theivery of a special national beer recipe, and after being pushed around by the always victorius German team, the brothers vow to return next year a fitter, more drinkworthy squad and dominate the Germans. Most of the movie consists of them finding the remainder of their team, Jay Chandrasekhar, the high school tough guy who is reduced to a sad existence that revealing any details about would spoil completely, Steve Lemme, a laboratory head who reluctantly joins as a chance to capture the glory he has been denied his life, and Landfill, aka Kevin Heffernan aka Officer Farva, who plays his usual genius role as a local sociopath who is in it for sheer kicks. The jokes range from parodies of more established movies the scene where Chandrasekhar wakes up with blood on his throat after having ripped out a deer's throat to pure gross out humor, thankfully kept tame enough to make you laugh without distracting, to ridiculous and tongue in cheek plot twists a la Dodgeball that make sure the ride to the inevitable conclusion of the movie keep you laughing at a frenetic and constant pace. The game of rear end in a top hat in the bar in particular stands out as a tribute to anyone who has ever fancied themself a ladies' man after a good bender, and is almost worthy of a comatose laughing fit by itself. While I wasn't much of a fan of Super Troopers, this Broken Lizard effort outmatches their previous films by far and belongs in the annals of the true frat boy classics. 5/5
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Aug 8, 2008 17:52
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