Starsky & Hutch (2004, DVD)

Ben Stiller has been very disappointing as of late. His role in Meet the Parents was the last time that he s been in an enjoyable film, and so when the first preview for Starsky and Hutch was shown, needless to say, I was excited. I m not quite old enough to have seen the old Starsky and Hutch series in the 70 s, but being a fan of Owen Wilson and a fan of cop comedies, I couldn t wait to see it. There had been a little drought in new movies coming out, at least in my eyes, but Starsky and Hutch was a nice little refresher to keep theaters alive.

The movie Starsky and Hutch starts out with a nice backdrop of the film, showing David Starsky (Ben Stiller) and Ken Hutchinson (Owen Wilson) in their separate lives taking care of their cop duties for the Bay City Police Department. When they re both hanging by the captains last nerve, he makes them partners. Uh oh, this is what it s like when worlds collide? Starsky is the uptight cop that acts like the Fonz in the way he dresses and does his hair (or the Fonz acted like him), as well as driving a nice car, a red Gran Torino. Hutchinson on the other hand, otherwise known as Hutch, is a laid back lets bend the rules kind of cop who stands on good terms with various people around the city who would have otherwise been arrested. Starsky and Hutch are complete polar opposites, and their adventure as partners starts when they discover a dead body in the Bay. From there, Starsky and Hutch are after a Crack-Cocaine dealer, Reese Feldman (Vince Vaughn), who is about to make the biggest drug deal ever in the Bay City area. However, this isn t an ordinary drug deal. The dealers have managed to make undetectable Crack-Cocaine. That means search dogs can t smell it, and even a test done o nit in a Police lab won t detect it, as the only result they ll get is: sugar.

The story is just kind of dropped in, but the comedy/action duo Starsky and Hutch say to heck with the story. Stiller and Wilson make a great comedy duo. I was laughing so hard at certain points in the movie that I wasn t really paying attention to how the story was developing, I was just watching what was happening on-screen. Starsky and Hutch has a little bit of action in it, including car chases, a rip off/parody of a scene in 2 Fast 2 Furious, and a couple of gun fights. Obviously, by far the comedy outweighs the action in the movie, and it s not a bad thing.

Usually, big time movies keep me glued to my seat from start to finish, even one that seemed to have 3-4 different places to end. The Matrix Trilogy, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious are a few of those movies, and Starsky and Hutch can now be added to that list as well. I get bored easily, and so a movie has got to really be a hit in my eyes in order to sit through it all.

The cast in Starsky and Hutch is a great line up, including Matt Walsh, Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrel, and the best of them all, the man who fits the part with flying colors, Snoop Doggy Dogg as Huggy Bear. Snoop Dogg has had an average acting career so far, but he really shines in Starsky and Hutch. I guess you could say his bite is catching up to his bark (please only make fun of this pun if you are either really stupid, or you just don t think it s funny). Snoop s greatest line in the movie, out of a pool of different ones, is definitely I know some people who know some people that rob some people. I got a major kick out of that. Will Ferrel has a fairly minute role, though the scenes he is in are dang funny. Ferrel is a (supposedly) gay guy in jail who is obsessed with dragons. He s always asking what people are wearing, and there s an incredibly awkward scene where Starsky and Hutch are trying to question him about the drugs. I say awkward, but it is actually pretty funny. I can see some homophobes squirming in their chairs though. Me? I was laughing, hard.

Overall, Starsky and Hutch is a cool movie. It s been out for a little while now, so unless you just HAVE to see it or are a diehard Starsky and Hutch fan, just wait for it on DVD and pick it up. Starsky and Hutch is a love it or hate it movie for some, but mostly it s an alright type of movie. Some will hate it, some will think it s alright, and some will love it for many different reasons. There s even a guest appearance of the original Starsky and Hutch from the TV series. Score!