Strange Wilderness
I strive myself in truth in criticism, and I'll admit, I laughed when the gag started. The sight of seeing the guy running around with the turkey stuck on him somehow reached my inner 10-year-old child who used to think fart jokes were hilarious, and I laughed even though I knew I shouldn't have. Then the gag just kept on going, getting grosser and more graphic, and I just stopped laughing. That kind of explains my entire reaction to the movie. I found myself laughing quite a bit during the film's early moments, and I even started to wonder if I had stumbled upon a rare comic gem. Then the energy of the movie and the laughs just kind of sputtered out, and I sunk in my seat. Co-writer and director Fred Wolf (a long time writer on Saturday Night Live, who has also provided screenplays for the Chris Farley comedy Black Sheep, and the David Spade vehicles Joe Dirt and Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star) seems energized at the beginning, but then he loses interest and just puts a whole bunch of filler material and music montages. I never quite found myself hating the movie, but I did find myself wishing it hadn't lost its way.
The premise is appropriately simple, and doesn't have much to do with anything other than serve as an excuse to get its characters into the woods. Peter Gaulke (Steve Zahn) is the host of a struggling wildlife show that was once at the top of the ratings back when his now-deceased father was the host. His boss at the network (Jeff Garlin) is threatening to shut the show down, but Peter thinks he's found his last chance to save it. A reclusive mountain man (Joe Don Baker) has stumbled upon the whereabouts of Bigfoot, and even has a map that leads directly to the legendary creature's cave. Peter knows that footage of Bigfoot could save his show, so he gathers up his ragtag film crew, and they set off. He is accompanied by his best friend and sound man, Fred Wolf (Allen Covert), burned-out stoner, Junior (Justin Long), all-around oddball Cooker (Jonah Hill), the beautiful Cheryl (Ashley Scott), and recovering alcoholic animal handler, Whitaker (Kevin Heffernan). Their race to find Bigfoot before a rival nature show crew does puts them face to face with some bizarre characters, including a mentally unstable military man (Robert Patrick), and a travel guide with a rather unfortunate name (Blake Clark).
The opening moments that initially gave me hope focus on the show itself, which features the Peter doing bizarre voice overs to actual nature footage. The early scenes at the TV studio showed some promise too. The movie had a very goofy and fun sense to itself, and it looked like the actors were having a good time. I started to get caught up in the mood, and was actually starting to think they might be able to pull it off. Then Peter and his crew go off to look for Bigfoot, and it's almost as if someone let all the air out of the movie, and we're forced to just watch it deflate and go flat. The screenplay by Peter Gaulke and Fred Wolf (And no, it's no coincidence that the two lead characters share their names.) seems to run out of ideas right when the movie should be building steam. Instead, they pad out the movie with numerous footage of the actors walking through the woods to music. Characters who seemed comically offbeat during the opening moments are pushed into the background, and never really given anything to do. A good example is the character of Junior portrayed by Justin Long. We figure out early on that he's a stoner, and them the movie pretty much stops there. He has very little dialogue, and pretty much spends most of the time standing around, looking at the trees. The actor who plays him, Justin Long, has been building momentum in his career lately. I can only hope he took a pay cut for this role.
There were a lot of times while watching Strange Wilderness where I didn't feel like I was watching a movie. Rather, I was watching a bunch of friends standing around in a soundstage made up to look like a jungle or forest, trying to improvise. It's amazing that this movie has assembled a strong comedic talent such as Steve Zahn, Jonah Hill, and the previously mentioned Long, but they seem absolutely lost here. The scenes that don't look improvised often have a weak pay off, or none whatsoever. A scene where Peter and Fred have to have emergency dental surgery is absolutely pointless, and seems to be built entirely around a bloody sight gag that's more gag-inducing than funny. Even the crew's ultimate run-in with Bigfoot doesn't work. It's not that I can't picture the scene being funny. When I think back on what happened, I actually smile a little. It's just the movie stages it all wrong, so it's not as funny as it should have been. I could actually picture a lot of the movie working, and my spirits would start to lift every time it hit upon an idea that could be funny in theory. At best, I cracked a smile for the effort that was made, but I never quite laughed the way I did during the film's first 15 minutes or so.
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