Starsky & Hutch

As Seen On DVD

I am a child who watched Starsky and Hutch (now Starsky & Hutch for some reason - is it cooler or something?), enjoying the adventures of two cops and their brightly-coloured car. Alan Davies, in his stand up, brilliantly dissected the show, describing the looseness of the plotting ("Huggy, there's been a crime, do you know anything?" "The word on the street is... it was those guys over there." "Quick, let's chase them in the car and drive through alley ways knocking over cardboard boxes.") and how the memory of the show is better than the actual show itself. This thought was going through my head as I watched this film.

The film is set in the 70s, and Starsky (Ben Stiller) is a dedicated cop, playing by the rules to bring the bad guy down, while Hutch (Owen Wilson) doesn't know the meaning of rules, and being a cop is just something to put on forms for 'occupation'. So, they are put together and have to solve a murder linked to cocaine. Supposedly, jokes are supposed to happen, but they never really turn up in force, a few stragglers and a lot of pretenders making an appearance instead. The film makers seem to remember the credits of the show more than the show itself; the first series was quite violent, and only survived by being more comical in later series. So, we get big hair and outrageous knitwear, the detectives dressing in mime (as a nod to the show), homo-erotic asides, the car in all it's idiotically non-undercover glory and a riff on Easy Riders.

Stiller and Wilson (or should that be Stiller & Wilson?) do their trademark double act as seen in their other films and even presenting the Oscars; Stiller is the uptight, neurotic one who has the humour happen to him, while Wilson is the laid back one, seeing the humour and getting the jokes. They work well together, their natural easiness with one another seen on screen and in outtakes. Snoop is the perfect casting for Huggy, even though he just plays Snoop Dogg - if he could act it would have been a little more interesting. Others are just in the film; Vaughan is Vince Vaughan with a silly moustache and 70s clothing; Jim Brown is the angry chief, doing little more than shouting, which is the extent of his range; Juliette Lewis is still in recovery, so doesn't bother to act, just react. The most natural were the originals, cameoing at the end, Paul Michael Glazer and David Soul, which was a nice gesture.

The cameos at the end made me think more about the originals and how at least they seemed to work better than this. I wondered, in my review of Old School, if Todd Phillips has a decent film in him. I am still wondering. The direction is shambolic, the jokes not very funny, and the outtakes indicate that he lets the actors play around on the set in the hope that they might come up with something funny enough to put in the film instead of the script that was written. If you are going to have your tongue-in-cheek, it takes more than wigs and chunky cardigans to make it funny. Miramax may want a franchise, but I can't see it happening based on this.

Rating: DA