Yeeeeee Hawwwww! The Dukes of Hazzard may not be a cinematic masterpiece but with Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott behind the wheel of the General Lee it is hard not to enjoy yourself while watching this raucous fare through Hazzard County.
This film is just good dumb fun, which means don’t go looking for anything more than a bunch of hicks racing cars, Jessica Simpson with very little on and a bad southern accent and a storyline as thin as anything you would see on TV, then again it may be far worse. So how can I possibly say I enjoyed it? Well, the fact that it never claimed to be anything more than everything I just said is probably my best answer.
You aren’t going into The Dukes of Hazzard looking for an Oscar nom and Miss Simpson hopefully doesn’t think this film is going to send her career skyrocketing. All this film does is offer up enough car chases, road kill jokes and adolescent behavior all around to occupy nearly two hours of screen time.
Keeping it as simple as the movie does, lets just say The Dukes of Hazzard follows cousins Bo and Luke Duke as they learn about Boss Hogg’s (Burt Reynolds) attempt to strip mine Hazzard County and set out to foil the plan. There you have it… and along the way are scenes to keep the action going, opportunities for some Simpson eye candy, basically just enough story to get you to the next car chase. Really… it is that simple and to tell you the truth, it worked on me.
I usually don’t go easy on mediocrity when it comes to films as of late, but Knoxville and Scott seemed to work so well together I couldn’t help but smile at all the cheesy dialogue and stupid stunts they pulled. For those of you fans of the Broken Lizard tribe you too will appreciate a nice little Super Troopers throwback as helmer Jay Chandrasekhar doesn’t forget his roots, just watch out for Campus Security.
Those of you looking for a rehash of the TV series need to just stay home, no one wants to listen to your belly aching, this is a movie based on a TV show, and an outrageous TV show from the ’70s at that. If you can’t get passed that fact and realize the times have changed and so must the story then maybe movies altogether just aren’t your thing.
The Dukes of Hazzard is far from perfect but closer to entertainment than a lot of the crap I have seen in theaters lately, ah hem… Stealth… So for this one leave your brain at home (you won’t need it) and plan on some good laughs as The Dukes of Hazzard gives an elevated meaning to mediocre.
