Club Dread Review
by Michael Yagi (myagi AT sympatico DOT ca)June 2nd, 2004
By: Michael Yagi
Review of 'Broken Lizard's Club Dread'
Genre: Comedy
Director: Jay Chandrasekhar
Year: 2004
I felt like watching some silly comedy as I was having a rough day at work. After watching Club Dread, I needed some Excedrin to kill my migraine. This movie was a chaotic mess and had shabby comedic setups. Why did I even bother watching it? My first experience with Broken Lizard was watching the underrated Super Troopers. I wasn't expecting many laughs from the film but my brother recommended it and I admire his sense of ludicrous humor. To my surprise, it was actually funny. I enjoyed watching each characters quirks play out and interact, especially Farva's character (Jay Chandrasekhar), just hilarious! Brian Cox was great as the role as the police chief. But since this isn't a review of Super Troopers, let me get back on track as much as I Dread (pun intended) the Broken Lizard troupes latest comedy.
The film takes place on a party island resort off the coast of Costa Rica, owned and run by Coconut Pete (played by Bill Paxton) and his inept staff. The fun stops when they are being terrorized by 'Machete Phil', a character conjured up from scary campfire stories. From here it's a 'who dunnit' movie, involving the Broken Lizard cast; Was it British tennis fanatic Putman (Jay Chandrasekhar), Sam of the Fun Police (Erik Stolhanske), Jenny the fitness instructor (Brittany Daniel), Juan the Hispanic diving instructor (Steve Lemme), Dave the druglord DJ (Paul Soter) or the new-guy-tai-chi-master masseuse (Kevin Heffernan)?
First off, this type of movie has been done way too much, it was an overkill attempt. Sure it had its funny bits, but the movie just left you feeling stupid for wasting 6 bucks on a rental. What Super Troopers had that this film didn't was any hint of clever wit or character. Instead, it took all the bad from its last film and previous movies of the same genre, and blended it into a bloody pulp of bad taste. The movies full blown scenes of sleazy sex and gore didn't work out and wasn't very original, although I wasn't sure whether it was an attempt to poke fun at the genre. In any case, sorry Broken Lizard but not funny...
The verdict:
1.8/8- Unoriginal overkill. See Super Troopers instead.
(c) 2004 Eight Trees CineMANIA
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