DecoyMusic.com

Watching Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby a few weeks back, I was sure I was gut-busting my way through the funniest movie of the summer, if not the year. But I have never been so happy to be so wrong. Who knew that the random month of August would bring about three of the funniest movies of the new millennium? First Talladega, then the soon-to-be-classic Little Miss Sunshine, and now the soon-to-be-cult-classic Beerfest.

Beerfest is the latest movie from comedy troupe Broken Lizard, who burst into our consciousness (albeit consciousness of the hazy, drunk/stoned college kid variety) with 2001’s Super Troopers. They followed up that modest hit with an ambitious attempt at mixing humor and horror, the largely disappointing Club Dread. After a brief stint writing the recent Dukes of Hazzard remake (which resident directorial Lizard Jay Chandrasekhar helmed, as well as several episodes of the best TV show ever made – Arrested Development – in the interim between original projects), the group dove head first into their next project, the once again all Broken Lizard Beerfest.

The plot is stunning in its beautiful simplicity: two brothers travel to Germany during Oktoberfest to spread the ashes of their recently deceased beer swilling Grandpa - a hilarious Donald Sutherland cameo complete with lederhosen - and stumble (literally) upon a super-secret underground (literally) drinking competition known as Beerfest. Surprised to find no American representation, they quickly encounter the resident champs - the Germans. It is shocking to all to discover that the two groups are actually related (cousins), with the German team regarding their Grandpa as the “thieving stable boy who ran off to America with the family beer recipe” section of the family tree. To defend his honor the American brothers challenge the Krauts, but are soundly defeated. For them, it’s back to America with shame and dishonor on their minds, and a desperate need for vengeance at next year’s fest. After assembling a crack team of drinkers (the rest of Broken Lizard, natch) it’s on to a year of training to go back and earn their place as Beerfest champions.

Though they share a similar appreciation for absurdity, Beerfest comes off a bit different than recent comedy hit Talladega Nights; I imagine this is because it seems a lot more scripted than Will Ferrell’s improv style. This makes sense, since Broken Lizard is a comedy troupe comprised of writers. There’s no less magnitude of jokes, but the whole thing feels tighter, crisper. It’s as if Talladega Nights would – and did - willingly abandon story in favor of extended improvs that don’t advance the storyline much (but are still uproarious and awesome) whereas Beerfest has more, dare I say, direction.

Beerfest also ends up being one of the greatest sports movies ever made, with training montages and countless other clichés being touched upon. There is also some clever humor in the form of “meta” type post modern gags where the characters knowingly wink and nod at the standards and rules of the sports film genre (and narrative structure in general). One smarter (albeit overlooked and/or unknown by the key demographic of this film) element is the usage of Das Boot star Jurgen Prochnow as the villainous Baron von Wolfhausen. I was pretty sure his placement in the film went over most everybody’s head, and this was confirmed when his character found himself on a submarine muttering an obvious joke about how “he had bad experiences on these things before” which was greeted by dead silence from the audience. Honestly, I think it was the only time the crowd stopped laughing.

Beerfest has it all; bad language, boobs, debauchery, drinking games – the list goes on and on. This is a film that truly has your back, America; the humorous opening “Do Not Try This At Home” disclaimer even features piped in sound effects of beers being subtly cracked open and bottles rolling down theater aisles to better mask the crowd’s anticipated hijinks. For god’s sakes, I got to see a monkey drink a beer (okay, so it was probably iced tea, but still – IN THEORY) in this film; what more could you ask for out of a cult comedy hit? But Beerfest might even end up being a breakout mainstream moneymaker, this year’s Wedding Crashers or 40 Year Old Virgin (due to its straightforward accessible comedy style and low risk/high return budget). There is a sweetness missing that keeps it from being either, but in truth sentimentality would feel out of place in this film - which seems to exist just slightly off center from populist tastes. No matter whether it stays in the underground or breaks into the mainstream, I have no doubt that Warner Bros. and Broken Lizard will be happy with the success of this comedic gem. Now somebody just come up with a Beerfest movie drinking game and all will be right with the world…

Grade: A

- Jeff Latta