Starsky & Hutch

Warner Bros. Pictures and Dimension Films present a Riche-Luwig/Weed Road/Red Hour Production

Starring: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Snoop Dog, Vince Vaughn

Directed by: Todd Phillips

Rating: **1/2

Plot: Based off a 70's television show we sort of laugh as we follow two cops hunt down some new cocaine on the street the tastes like a sweetener. Some laughs and some yawns ensue.

Acting: Even though Ben Stiller has been on a down hill slide movie wise I still think he is a comic genius. He plays Starksy an uptight cop who wants to take down as much crime as he can. Owen Wilson another very funny man plays Hutch a man who cares more about woman and trying to get cash then stopping crime. These two guys are great and are very funny. It is also not their fault this movie was as bad as it was. They really try their best to make you laugh and it sometimes works, but then the screen play kicks in and it is not so funny anymore. Vince Vaughn plays an over the top 70's white collar drug dealer who tries to juggle dealing drugs and planning his daughters Bah mitzvah at the same time. I loved Vaughn in Old School and I really loved him here even though I believe he did not get all that much screen time. Snoop Dog plays Huggy Bear some black guy who helps Starsky and Hutch, he is in the movie for maybe two scene and he is funny in both but this performance is nothing anyone will remember after next Tuesday. Also Will Ferrel makes a cameo as an arrested drug dealing bar owner and is just hilarious but is only in one scene in the movie so that actually made me feel worse when I got out of the theatre.

Directing/Writing: Now I don't understand why studio's keep making movies based off of 70's television shows like The Mod Squad and Charlie's Angeles. Only SWAT stood on its own really. This movie confused the hell out of me because I thought it was going to be an all out comedy but instead it was actually only half comedy and the rest seemed like a buddy cop movie. Now note to Todd Philips that if your going to make a movie based off a 70's television show you need to either be retro or just off the wall. At least McG did that with Charlie's Angeles and it works somewhat. This movie just seems like another MTV piece of shit that comes out every month where everything is politically correct and there are some laughable moments, but not many. So the screen writer and director should be ashamed of themselves for having this much talent and not using it to all its potential. I mean Ben Stiller has his moments, there is a part where he accidently takes some cocaine and goes out dancing and goes crazy, that was funny. Own Wilson does his thing where he sarcastically walks around and says stuff. Vince Vaughn has one of the best lines I have ever seen which opens the movie in which he talks about how everything costs money. That is really all I can say for the movie I can't really even remember the movie all that much and I saw it yesterday.

Overall: A couple of good laughs but its not really and comedy and its not really an action movie, so its really nothing I guess. Its just sad to see such a waste of talent and time.