Starsky & Hutch Review
by Joel B. Kirk (joelkirk AT sbcglobal DOT net)March 8th, 2004
Starsky & Hutch
A film review by Joel B. Kirk
SYNOPSIS:
Terrence Myers is an ex-con who has just been murdered by a cocaine dealer, Reese Feldman, after botching a drug pick-up. When his body washes up on shore in Bay City, mis-matched officers David Starsky and Ken Hutchinson are on the trail to find the killer.
MY TAKE:
In the long line of revitalizing shows and movies from the 1970s: MOD SQUAD, CHARLIE'S ANGELS (and it's sequel CHARLIE'S ANGELS FULL THROTTLE), SHAFT, and S.W.A.T. comes one of the most well known of buddy cop shows.
Here, the jokes seemed slightly forced, however, not in the 'nudge-nudge, wink-wink' fashion...
Owen Wilson (SHANGHAI NOON) and BEN STILLER (THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, ZOOLANDER) look like the characters that we remember and portray them well.
Vince Vaughn (SWINGERS, LOST WORD: JURASSIC PARK) plays the villain Reese Feldman with the perfect range, not too over-the-top or too underplayed. He has the right sarcastic persona to fit the part.
Fred Williamson (BLACK CAESAR, THREE THE HARD WAY, FROM DUSK TIL DAWN), a 70s icon, himself plays Captain Doby, a funny nod to the cliché of the hard-as-nails superior who will take the badge away, or suspend the hero off of a case he or she is too involved with.
Rapper Snoop Doggy Dog (BABY BOY) takes over Antonio Fargas' part as Huggy Bear, turning the character into an untouchable godfather.
The requisite cameos of the original actors occur in the film, with David Soul and Paul Glaser (a director of such films as RUNNING MAN and COP AND A HALF) meeting their contemporary counterparts.
It tells a good story. It knows the film is fun without being overly stupid.
POSITIVE/NEGATIVE NITPICKS:
The African-American characters are imposing (in a good way), cool, and don't really border on stereotypical...even though it is very simple to do so, given Snoop Dog's Huggy Bear character.
Once Vince Vaughn's Reese Feldman strikes Snoop's character (during an undercover sequence), you know Huggy Bear will give Feldman what's coming to him later on in the film.
What is interesting: George Cheung (RUSH HOUR) portrays Chau, a Korean man taken to the police station for questioning. He speaks stereotypical broken english and gets a humiliated by both main characters, with Hutch to make peace with Chau by conversing in Korean, and sharing Chinese food to get information from him.
This is comedy at the expense of Asian character. (Not too long ago, some of the above would be at the expense of African-American characters).
In a scene toward the third act, an Asian woman is present at the home of Reese Feldman, yet she does not speak in broken english, and is one of the many women at the villain's gathering.
What sort of picture does this paint for the Asian male character? (And to a degree the Asian woman?)
*
In cop movies, there seems to be the line: ‘Your father was a good cop.' A cliché to have the hero's father a cop, or part of a family of cops. In STARSKY AND HUTCH we have an deceased mother of Starsky who happened to be a cop, a funny and interesting idea. This being set in the 70s, a time where there were a few policewomen, we had a television show of that era—1974 to be exact—called POLICEWOMAN with Angie Dickinson; a woman in the ranks of a majority male field.
Also, there is a nod to Easy Rider, another landmark film (which was actually at the end of the 1970s—1969, to be exact). However, many may not be familiar with the film or the characters to place the reference.
FINAL COMMENTS:
Is it worth it? Well, if you can pick past the above flaws (and depending on the individual) you might enjoy yourself. As aforementioned, it knows how to be a fun film without being silly.
MY RATING:
*** out of *****
DIRECTOR:
Todd Phillips
WRITER (S):
William Blinn (characters)
Steve Long (story & screenplay)
John O'Brien (story & screenplay)
Scot Armstron (screenplay)
CAST:
Ben Stiller-David Starsky
Owen Wilson-Ken Hutchinson
Snoop Dogg-Huggy Bear
Fred Williamson-Captain Doby
Vince Vaughn-Reese Feldman
Juliette Lewis-Kitty
Jason Bateman-Friday
Amy Smart-Holli
Carmen Electra-Staci
George Cheung-Chau
Chris Penn-Manetti
Will Farrell-Big Eart
GENRE:
Action/Comedy
RUNNING TIME:
100 minutes
YEAR OF RELEASE:
2004 by Dimension Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures
EMAIL:
[email protected]
Copyright 2004 Joel B. Kirk
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
