Coconut Pete (Bill Paxton of "Frailty" and many
very good movies, not including this one) is a
washed up ex-pop star/stoner. Actually, he's
still a stoner. He and his "
Love Boat"-style staff
run a remote hedonistic resort where Pete
plays all his old LSD trip songs, and everyone
has sex with everyone else. That includes
Jenny, the hot aerobics instructor (Brittany
Daniel of "Joe Dirt"), and a bunch of weird
guys played by members of the Broken Lizard
comedy troupe (last seen in "Super
Troopers"): Sam the Fun Cop (Erik
Stolhanske); Juan, the Speedo-wearing cliff
diver (Steve Lemme); Putman, the
Indian/British tennis instructor, played by
director Jay Chandrasekhar (who was actually
quite funny in "Super Troopers," but isn't here);
and the new masseur, Lars (co-writer Kevin
Heffernan), who seems to be the only person
on the island who isn't high, drunk, oversexed
or killing people with a machete. Which brings
us to the plot: Someone wielding a big
machete is killing the staffers at Coconut
Pete's, and they'd rather the guests not know.
But the real question is: who cares, especially
if it's not particularly funny. There was a time
when movies about guys with big knives
stalking and hacking up beautiful young
people didn't have to be funny; scary was good
enough. But no more. Now, it had better be
funny, and not just occasionally humorous, as
is the case with "Club Dread," but
gut-bustingly funny--otherwise it's just a movie
about guy in a mask with a big knife killing
pretty people, which has been done. To
death.
The Broken Lizards
are--apparently--proponents of a style of
comedy that hearkens to mid-'70s low-budget
classics like "H.O.T.S" and "Animal House"
that feature a juvenile sense of funny and lots
of nudity. Neither of which are necessarily bad
things, but with "Club Dread" the Broken
Lizards are too busy enjoying themselves to
be concerned with whether or not we are
enjoying ourselves. Which we aren't.
Starring Jay
Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan,
Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske,
Brittany Daniel, Jordan Ladd and Bill Paxton.
Directed Jay Chandrasekhar. Written by
Broken Lizard. Produced by Richard Perello. A
Fox Searchlight release. Comedy. Rated R for
violence/gore, sexual content, language and
drug use. Running time: 105 min
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