Road to Bali (2000, DVD)

Road to Bali is the sixth of the seven Hope-Crosby "Road" movies. The format for these pictures is to come up with a thin plot around which Bob and Bing ad lib, ridicule each other, fire off one-liners, sing at intervals, and fight for Dorothy Lamour. Bali follows suit with one exception, the plot is almost nonexistant. In most cases, this would be a bad thing, but in a "Road" movie, it only makes the comedy better. The jokes come one after the next, so you'll probably have to watch this several times in order to hear all the gags you laughed through - but don't worry because you'll want to watch it again and again anyway.

This was the first "Road" movie shot in color, and the final one made at Paramount. The film is packed full of cameos, including an appearance by Bob Crosby, Bing's younger brother, who walks on and fires his rifle - Bing promised to give him a "shot" in the picture! Also hilarious is a clip of Humphrey Bogart pulling the African Queen through the jungle while Bing and Bob watch. Then Bing finds Bogey's Oscar in a bush. Jane Russell, who costarred with Bob in The Paleface and Son of Paleface, is magically conjured by Bob to be his girl, but Bing walks away with Dottie and Jane, doubling the usual insult.

The songs are fun, including "Road to Bali," "Chicago Style," "Whiffenpoof Song," "Hoot Mon," "To See You" and "The Merry-Go-Runaround," which is one of my favorite "Road" movie songs. I recommend you watch some of the earlier movies in the series before seeing Road to Bali, because this film takes what the others did to the next level. It's hilarious the whole way through, and you'll enjoy it a lot more having seen the first five movies.