Without a Paddle film review

certificate_PG

WITHOUT A PADDLE

The most apt word to describe this pitiful shambles is the one omitted from the expression from which the film took its title. And the word isn't "up" or "creek". Alternative titles could have been "Without A Script" or "Without A Laugh", both of which would have served equally as well and been more accurate. Trying to find anything remotely redeeming to say about such a pile of dumb nonsense would take more effort than was ever exerted by any of the writers involved.

It's rare to see actors visibly embarrassed, but for those poor unfortunates who found themselves floundering in front of the camera as they tried vainly to salvage something from the paper thin characters and banal dialogue, the discomfort was palpable. To Matthew Lillard, his portrayal of Shaggy in the Scooby Doo movies must have seemed deep and profound compared to his role here as the adolescent Jerry.

With a plot involving three men who head out on a canoeing adventure and find themselves being chased by two chromosome-challenged hicks, the comparisons with City Slickers and Deliverance are inevitable. But it would be doing a devout disservice to both of those films to mention Without A Paddle in the same sentence. It lacks the humour and warmth of City Slickers and the only thing it shares with Deliverance is Burt Reynolds.

If a film sets out to be deliberately dumb, then it better back it up with some humour otherwise it's just dumb. Quite what tone director Stephen Brill is trying to strike lies at the heart of Paddle's problems. Not funny enough to satisfy as a comedy, it lacks anything in the way of subtlety or heart. None of the central characters are remotely engaging or, for that matter, real. Instead all are cartoonish in their simplicity, though nowhere near as colourful.

The story (a term used generously) centers on four boyhood friends who are reunited at thirty when one of them - Billy (Antony Starr) - dies. The remaining three - Dan (Seth Green), Tom (Dax Shepard) and Jerry - find a treasure map left by Billy. As the three pathetic losers contemplate an adventure that would take them away from their miserable lives, Jerry tries to rally them with the stirring cry of "This might be the last chance we get to do something incredibly stupid together." Let's hope so.