Yee Haw!

Where to begin...

I guess there is no way to say this than to just drag the painfull truth out into the open and be done with it.

I went and saw the Dukes of Hazzard at theatres today.

I know what you're thinking, and I'm disgusted with myself too. Sitting in the car in the parking lot, I carefully reviewed my options. Must Love Dogs? No...no date movies in the middle of the day when I'm by myself. Wedding Crashers? Possible...I've heard good things about it, but it didn't start for a while and the car was getting hot. No, there was no time like the present. Eventually I was going to watch the Duke boys tear up half of Hazzard County, and I had to accept it. This movie was going to be watched. Might as well do it in the comfort of the air conditioned stadium seating of the Supermall megaplex. I considered strong words about how I would review it, should I ever be forced under torture to admit that I saw it in the first place. I wondered if the word "purile" was too strong or not strong enough of an adjactive.

So it pretty much goes without saying that my expectations were pretty damn low. I figured 2 or 3 on a 10 point scale low.

Imagine my surprise when I found myself laughing and rocking with the hillbilly (or as Luke calls them, Appalacian Americans) antics and hijinks. I wasn't a huge fan of the show. I watched a season or two but then grew bored with it as a child. It was fun, but it just didn't have the man-monkey love of my dear BJ and the Bear. I think that I might have had a Dukes lunch box, but maybe that was one of my brothers. So I had no LOVE for the source material. But I was familiar with it. Damned if the movie wasn't a love story to the show. They were well aware that they weren't remaking Shakespeare, and they played to the strengths...car chases, hijinks, and, sing along if you know it..."just some good ol' boys, never meaning no harm."

Seann William Scott has some weird, quirky charm that elevates anything he's in. And Johnny Knoxville, while no Anthony Hopkins, plays well of his character, hitting every note and having a blast doing it. I wasn't expecting Jessica Simpson to really act, just show up look good, and that she did, so I can't complain. And she wasn't nearly as wooden and vapid as I have seen other screen bimbos be, with more acting chops than, oh, I don't know, Carmen Electra, for instance.

That said, not a great movie. The story is, ultimately, pretty stupid. But then again, it was no more stupid than the show which inspired it. The car chase through Atlanta, while contrived, boiled down to a tasty essence everything that made the series last 6 years.

I didn't want to like it. I swear to you, I never wanted to like it. But I did. My wife may leave me in disgust and change her name, hiding in outer Mongolia for my admitting it, but yeah, I actually enjoyed The Dukes of Hazzard. I'll never make my lovely wife see it, nor will I likely buy it on DVD. (Hear that babe? Put down the suitcase. Thanks.)

In the end, worth a matinee if you are willing to shut off your brain and not take yourself too seriously. Possibly even a 7 on a 10 point scale. Certaily a solid 6.5 for just flat out fun.

-T