Starsky & Hutch Review
by Susan Granger (ssg722 AT aol DOT com)March 4th, 2004
Susan Granger's review of "Starsky & Hutch" (Warner Bros.)
Back in the mid-'70s, Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul became iconic TV heroes as rogue buddy cops, particularly in their association with a street-wise informant played by Antonio Fargas, better known as Huggy Bear. Now, these popular personas are re-invented, although Starsky's beloved red-and-white Ford Gran Torino (a.k.a.: The Red Tomato) stays the same. Ben Stiller plays uptight David Starsky, whose mother was a legend on the Bay City police force. Owen Wilson is laid-back Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson, whose sly underworld association with Huggy Bear (ultra cool rapper/actor Snoop Dog) is dubious at best. Unable to deal with either detective separately, their Captain (Fred Williamson) pairs them up and lets them loose on a high-stakes case, involving smuggling and murder. Vince Vaughn is a ruthless drug dealer who has learned how to make cocaine undetectable by taste or smell. But the plot is just a foundation on which to build the comedic relationship, which develops gradually as the concept evolves.
As directed by Todd Phillips ("Road Trip," "Old School"), it's the good, the bad, the goofy and the groovy with a satirical screenplay by John O'Brien, Todd Phipps & Scot Armstrong, based on a story by Stevie Long and John O'Brien. Since Stiller and Wilson worked together in "The Cable Guy," "Meet the Parents," "The Royal Tennenbaums" and "Zoolander," their cool, odd-couple chemistry clicks. It's double the fun, double the laughs, whether they're undercover in Big Earl's Biker Bar or posing as mimes at a Bat Mitzvah. Plus, Stiller dances, Wilson sings, and Will Ferrell, Juliette Lewis, Amy Smart and Carmen Electra cavort. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Starsky & Hutch" is a feisty, fun-filled 7. It's an easy, breezy romp of a movie.
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