Director – Akiva Schaffer
Cast - Andy Samberg, Isla Fisher, Jorma Taccone, Bill Hader,
Danny R. McBride, Sissy Spacek, Ian McShane.
Without Napoleon Dynamite Hot Rod would not exist. So if Napoleon did not float your boat there is a pretty good chance you will find Hot Rod purile and pointless. For me however Napoleon Dynamite is one of the ten best comedies ever made. Like Napoleon Hot Rod’s premise is secondary to the characters. For what it’s worth the burning ambition of central character Rod Kimble played by Andy Samberg is to emulate his deceased stuntman father and garner the respect of his step dad Frank Powell played by Ian McShane. But when he has a heart attack and needs a heart transplant it looks like Rod’s chance for respect has gone, unless $50,000 can be found to pay for a heart transplant. I know what you’re thinking; he can raise the $50,000 by jumping 15 buses on a motorbike. Bingo!
A surprisingly accomplished cast signed up to Hot Rod including Isla Fisher, Sissy Spacek, Ian McShane, Will Arnett and Bill Hader and the film would not have succeeded without their absolute conviction and deadpan delivery. The dialogue is suitably quotable and surreal, and is both funny and baffling at the same time. Being a film about a wannabe stuntman is a great excuse for some slapstick and it doesn’t disappoint in this regard either. There are some memorable set pieces too including a Flashdance-esque punch dance in the forest that results in possibly the greatest fall down a mountain of all time. Another features possibly the greatest use of John Farnham’s You’re The Voice of all time! Even as I type I am smiling, Hot Rod is brimming with loveably dim simpletons that you can’t help but root for.
Apart from Andy Samberg looking a little overawed in the lead role the only problem with Hot Rod is the fact that I have now seen it and so am denied the delight of seeing it for the first time again. I am not saying it’s to everyone’s taste and not everyone was laughing in the cinema, in fact sometimes it was just myself, but if you’re in the form for an oddball comedy I reckon Hot Rod is worth a shot.
Cast - Andy Samberg, Isla Fisher, Jorma Taccone, Bill Hader,
Danny R. McBride, Sissy Spacek, Ian McShane.
Without Napoleon Dynamite Hot Rod would not exist. So if Napoleon did not float your boat there is a pretty good chance you will find Hot Rod purile and pointless. For me however Napoleon Dynamite is one of the ten best comedies ever made. Like Napoleon Hot Rod’s premise is secondary to the characters. For what it’s worth the burning ambition of central character Rod Kimble played by Andy Samberg is to emulate his deceased stuntman father and garner the respect of his step dad Frank Powell played by Ian McShane. But when he has a heart attack and needs a heart transplant it looks like Rod’s chance for respect has gone, unless $50,000 can be found to pay for a heart transplant. I know what you’re thinking; he can raise the $50,000 by jumping 15 buses on a motorbike. Bingo!
A surprisingly accomplished cast signed up to Hot Rod including Isla Fisher, Sissy Spacek, Ian McShane, Will Arnett and Bill Hader and the film would not have succeeded without their absolute conviction and deadpan delivery. The dialogue is suitably quotable and surreal, and is both funny and baffling at the same time. Being a film about a wannabe stuntman is a great excuse for some slapstick and it doesn’t disappoint in this regard either. There are some memorable set pieces too including a Flashdance-esque punch dance in the forest that results in possibly the greatest fall down a mountain of all time. Another features possibly the greatest use of John Farnham’s You’re The Voice of all time! Even as I type I am smiling, Hot Rod is brimming with loveably dim simpletons that you can’t help but root for.
Apart from Andy Samberg looking a little overawed in the lead role the only problem with Hot Rod is the fact that I have now seen it and so am denied the delight of seeing it for the first time again. I am not saying it’s to everyone’s taste and not everyone was laughing in the cinema, in fact sometimes it was just myself, but if you’re in the form for an oddball comedy I reckon Hot Rod is worth a shot.
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