Box office gross
In 1999, 2001 and 2003, “American Pie†and its sequels graced our summers with ever-unfolding events in the lives of the hapless Jim (Jason Biggs) and his buddies.
For those unfamiliar with the teen gross-out genre, “American Pie†carries on the fine tradition of wacky sexual capers balanced with an array of bodily fluid jokes. The daddy of them all was likely 1978’s “National Lampoon’s Animal House†(in fact all the National Lampoon movies qualify); another prominent series in past years was the “Porky’s†franchise. Movies by the Farrelly brothers have added to the pantheon of odd yet lovable characters in messy situations.
Alas, it is an even-numbered year, so no “Pies†will be hitting the screen this summer. Besides, what could come after “American Wedding,†their third installment -- “American Birth?†With Stifler eating the placenta?
The modern era of the gross-outs may have peaked since the Farrellys came on the scene, but fans of teen comedies with raunchy innuendo and bathroom laughs need not worry. Howard Stern has acquired the rights to 1982’s seminal hit Porky’s and recently hired writers to pen a remake. And in the meantime, audiences have places to turn for bawdy fulfillment this summer.
Two leading candidates (coincidentally the only candidates that were available for screening by early spring) are somewhat lighter on the sexual shenanigans than past titles, but are just as devoted to the gags.
New Line’s “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle,†due out July 30, has a few filmic respects to pay. The story brings to mind titles older than most of their target audience, such as Cheech and Chong’s 1978 stoner classic “Up in Smoke,†and a sexier version of “Revenge of the Nerds.†John Cho, veteran of all three “Pie†movies, plays Harold, a sorely put-upon office drone. Kal Penn is Kumar, his bad influence of a roommate. The two spend a night -- and the film -- on a quest to find a White Castle hamburger restaurant to satisfy their munchies.
This search for a holy grail takes them on a riotously vulgar and increasingly insane obstacle course. All the requisite R-rated teen-movie elements can be found: scatological humor, dumb-as-bricks cops, bullies who deserve their comeuppance, good girls, bad girls and good girls with bad judgment. The characters’ ethnicities (Korean American and Indian American) are cleverly used to subvert the expected stereotypes. Added to the mix is a turn by actor Neil Patrick Harris -- playing a character called Neil Harris, a dissipated, drug-addled sex fiend -- that gives him an opportunity to quite literally blow his Doogie Howser cover forever. The scene in which he indulges all his passions while standing in the sunroof of a moving vehicle will go down as a landmark moment of the genre.
Harold has his eye on a dream girl but doesn’t have the courage to speak to her. Does his night of insane, debauched questing help him finally face down his fears and make a move? What do you think?
Seth Green is the man facing down most of the fears in Paramount’s “Without a Paddle,†due out Aug. 13. He plays Dan Mott, a mild-mannered doctor with just about every phobia imaginable. He reunites with his childhood friends Tom and Jerry (Dax Shepard and Matthew Lillard) at the funeral of their buddy Billy. Billy, a free spirit who climbed mountain peaks and wooed women with equal skill, died pursuing his final dream: to find the lost treasure of D.B. Cooper somewhere in the wilds of Oregon. (Cooper was a hijacker who, in 1971, collected $200,000 in ransom money, parachuted out of a plane before it landed, and then disappeared.)
The remaining friends decide to honor his memory by taking the trip and finding the treasure themselves. They canoe a raging river and face obstacles made by man and nature in their pursuit. And while one important goal of the filmmaker is to crack up the audience at every bend in the river, another is to subtly send home the message that life is meant to be lived to the full, even if that means going over a waterfall as your canoe disintegrates beneath you.
“Paddle†brings to mind such filmic forebears as “Stand By Me†and “Romancing the Stone.†And of course in making a “guys going down a river†film, writers Jay Leggett and Mitch Rouse couldn’t resist including a few sly references to “Deliverance.†Leggett and Rouse were elated when they heard Burt Reynolds was going to be in the movie, as a grizzled old mountain man.
The scenery in “Paddle†is more beautiful than that of “Harold,†but the scenarios have their similarities. A quest is taken. Crazy obstacles must be overcome to realize one’s goals. Friendships are tested and ultimately strengthened. And wild animals are used in bizarre and ridiculous ways.
Both movies feature insane woodsmen -- “Harold’s†is pus-filled, while “Paddle’s†is of the gun-toting variety. They also share bad guys in uniform, the requisite homoerotic jokes and even an animation sequence. “Paddle†has been geared to a PG-13 rating, so the swearing is toned down considerably and the pot smoking is inadvertent, but it still rains down scatological hijinks, and a dream girl awakens the heart of at least one buddy.
Sweet at heart
As the makers of “American Pie†understood, all this silliness won’t go down at the box office without a sweet center to it all. Both “Paddle†and “Harold,†for all their groan inducements, honor that dictum as well. Both recognize the value of following one’s dreams, and both reward courage and ingenuity.
Neither movie is simply a gross-fest. Many levels of humor are found throughout, though the kids who see them are sure to take away some personal waste-related favorites.
“Paddle’s†writers Leggett and Rouse don’t consider the film a gross-out comedy per se. Leggett says, “I think a movie succeeds best when there’s a little bit of everything, when it’s a comedy salad.†In their late 30s and friends since their days as comedians at Second City in Chicago more than a decade ago, the writers consider “Saturday Night Live,†“Animal House†and the other Lampoon movies to be big influences.
But they also cite “Night Shift†as a favorite, because it features “ridiculous over-the-top stuff, and at the same time there’s moments that are really legitimately sentimental,†Leggett says. “Being able to play both sides of that is what makes a movie really stick with you for a long time.†(The movie is set in a morgue, in which an obnoxious Michael Keaton persuades timid co-worker Henry Winkler to start up a prostitution ring.)
“Harold†writers Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, in their mid-20s, have been friends since high school and cite influences ranging from Howard Stern to the Farrelly brothers. Comedy Central’s “South Park,†which hit the air when they hit college, had a huge effect. As Schlossberg says, “that show defines the edge for us. They’ve done stuff that’s so bad, we feel we can do whatever we want.†But the writers insist that all the gross-out action happens for a reason beyond just a gag reflex. “We just try to make things as funny as possible,†Schlossberg says, “and our sense of humor sometimes tends to end up a little sophomoric.†Hurwitz adds, “Even with Freakshow [the woodsman, played by Christopher Meloni] in the car when his neck is oozing pus -- that’s to create a kind of awkwardness with our characters.†And the audience is right there along with them.
“There’s another layer to these gross-out jokes,†Schlossberg says. “When you see one in a movie, you know it’s meant for everybody, it’s not just aiming for a certain type of audience. It’s broad comedy. Hitting those basic, human funny bones. That’s been going on for hundreds of years.†And always in the summer.
Only good movies
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