Club Dread. Meh.

Cafe Society
1

Or, “So Super Troopers was a fluke, then.”

So HBO finally got around to showing Broken Lizard’s Club Dread. The hubby and I missed the 12 minute window when it played at our local Superplex, and had been awaiting the cable premier with giddy anticipation, having found Super Troopers to be work of sublime comic genius, seamlessly incorporating humor that ranges from slapstick to schoolyard to raunchy to highbrow (though barely.)

Club Dread, on the other hand, was, first and foremost, the eight-millionth slasher-film spoof in the last five years. I hadn’t quite clued into that from the previews, and I was disappointed when that turned out to be the film’s conceit. I don’t watch slasher films, so I totally didn’t get any subtle slasher parody, if indeed there was any. (There was some nice FX splatter, though.) Also there were a lot of Jimmy Buffett jokes. I caught the reference instantly, but I don’t have any more than a passing aquaintance with Parrotheads or Mr. Buffett’s oeuvre, so most of that was lost on me, too.

It had a few fine comedic moments that were a dim glimmering of the brilliance that is Super Troopers, but largely it just fell flat. The chemistry wasn’t there. Despite the fact that they were filming on a tropical island covered with attractive, scantily clad people, they didn’t seem to be having fun. Maybe they should have stayed in Vermont?

I can never hate Bill Paxton, whatever he plays, and it was great that they actually had him record some “Coconut Pete” songs. And it was cool that Farva got to bethe good guy.

And I still want to have Jay Chandrasekhar’s babies, but only if he leaves off the dreadlocks wig.

And growing the moustache again wouldn’t hurt.

I see that there’s an unrated cut out on DVD. Would it be worth looking into?

2

I pretty much agree.

Some of the Jimmy Buffett jokes were funny - Pina Coladaberg and “Son of a son of a bitch” - but the movie fell pretty flat.

It might’ve been an average movie if it hadn’t been the follow-up to the greatness that was Super-Troopers.

Did anybody else feel like they ripped the death of the villain from Cannibal!: The Musical ?

3

Agreed, it wasn’t anywhere as good as Super Troopers. I thought the live-action pac-man game was pretty funny though.

4

snort Yes. That scene rocked. See, that’s the magic I’m talkin’ about. Why wasn’t there more of that?

5

My opinion on Club Dread is that it could not possibly live up to Super Troopers for one reason : In Super Troopers, you’ve essentially got a five-person buddy comedy. They’re friends. In Club Dread, they all hate each other.

6

Well, that’s not quite accurate. Four of them hated Farva.

Club Dread (which I’d also looked forward to in great anticipation as well as clearing space on my DVD shelf next to Super Troopers) was too schizophrenic a movie to work. Was it a horror movie, a parody of horror movies, or a sex comedy? It simply wasn’t cohesive enough to work with that many primary characters. Compare it to, say, Sean of the Dead, which managed to be scary and hysterical, but it centered on a single character.

If I could suggest ways to fix it but keep the five members of Broken Lizard, I’d limit the number of significant female characters to one (as was the case in Troopers) and reduce the stereotypical behaviour of the BL guys. What was with those stupid accents from Jay and the short guy? Yeesh. The movie’s too top-heavy to deal with pointless distractions unless they’re funny, and phony accents ain’t.

The Pac-Man game was hilarious, though.

7

Plus Super Troopers is basically them. There were a lot more people in the cast beside the Broken Lizard regs. Jordan Ladd just didn’t seem to cut it. (though she is almost as cute as her mom was)

But I loved the Buffet jokes.

Oh great! Now our lives depend on interpeting the lyrics of the world’s dumbest song!
Hey I’m still in the room!

8

Brittany Daniel was mighty hot, IMHO.

9

Indeed. As is Lindsay Price.

I agree, the movie sucked.

10

The fifth buddy in Super Troopers being the Police Chief fella, Brian Cox’s character. Not Farva.

11

Fair enough. Just don’t say “shenanigans” in his presence. Brian Cox and the rival police chief, Daniel von Bargen, had a great scene together (“Desperation is a stinky cologne”) and maybe Club Dread was missing that small element of maturity to keep it grounded.

I dunno. Movie sucked, is all.

12

A friend of mine rented that movie, then came over my house to watch it. I found it too painful to bear, and left the room to clip coupons. It was just that ridiculous.