Starsky & Hutch | ||||
Todd Phillips Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Juliette Lewis, Snoop Dogg, Amy Smart, Carmen Electra, Chris Penn, Jason Bateman, Fred Williamson, Will Ferrell 2004 |
After many questionable-to-feeble feature-film remakes of varying-quality TV programs such as "I Spy," "The Avengers," "Charlie's Angels" and "The Mod Squad," one thing is certain. As long as they turn a profit, Hollywood will keep cranking them out. The comedy version of the dated '70s cop show "Starsky and Hutch" is better than most of the resurrections. Still, it reeks of an industry exploiting the nostalgia factor of any available property, no matter how run-of-the-mill. There are character-driven chuckles, mostly due to the screen chemistry between Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, whose rapport made the high-fashion satire "Zoolander" tolerable. Goofy tension plagues neurotic, perfectionist police detective Starsky (Stiller) and his laconic scam-artist partner Hutch (Wilson) as they try to bring down a wealthy drug lord played with sneering merriment by a mustachioed Vince Vaughn. Other assets include cheesecaked Carmen Electra and Amy Smart as cheerleaders and retro sex-objects, the built-in cool of heavy-lidded rapper Snoop Dogg in the role of pimpin' informant Huggy Bear, and an unbilled appearance by Will Ferrell. If you excuse the fatigue and irrelevance of this type of project, it's bearable. Now, for the real down side: Next up from Todd Phillips, the director of "Starsky & Hutch"? A remake of "The Six Million Dollar Man." | |||
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