Doctor turned comedic actor Ken Jeong is best known for playing Mr. Chow in the Hangover films as well as Ben Chang on Community – both very quirky supporting characters. But how does Jeong handle himself when given a starring role? That question is answered in Killing Hasselhoff.
In Killing Joeng plays LA night club owner, Chris. He, along with his buddies Tommy (Jim Jefferies), Fish (Rhys Darby), Bill (Ron Funches) and a few others, has a celebrity death pool. Each year each member puts in $500, if their celebrity dies they get all the money. It’s been a few years and the total is now up to nearly half a million dollars some how. Chris’s celebrity pick is David Hasselhoff.
Chris owes four hundred thousand dollars to a very dangerous man for some reason. His night club isn’t doing well and after a misunderstanding everyone thinks Chris molested an under age popstar in his club. You know, cause everyone loves molestation humor. Anyway, Chris’s fiance Ann (Jennifer Ikeda) because of the misunderstanding. At wits end and his life on the line due to the money he owes. Chris decides that his only option is to kill David Hasselhoff, collect the money and pay off his debts.
Only Chris is horrible at murder and his feeble attempts are bungled every time, even resulting in Hasselhoff saving Chris’s life. Meanwhile the guy Chris owes money to learns about the celebrity death pool and decides to have Hasselhoff killed himself. Enter the shining star of this film Colton Dunn who plays a buff, burly and gay hitman, Redix.
Despite all the comedians in this film, much of the humor falls flat. There are few chuckles here and there, but never near as much as one expects from this talent. The exception to this rule is Dunn, who will make you laugh out loud every time he’s on screen.
The movie itself is okay, the story is perfectly acceptable for a silly comedy, however I feel it loses something in having Ken Jeong play the lead roll. It’s not that he’s bad in it, he’s just not as funny as he normally is. In this film he plays the straight man to the quirky characters around him (including Hasselhoff and his manager Barry played by Jon Lovitz). If Jim Jefferies and Kim Jeong were to have switched rolls I think the film might have worked a little better. Even Lovitz who has been reduced to thankless rolls in Adam Sandler films as of late, has some humourous moments in the film.
If you are a Hasselhoff fan, there is a lot for you in this movie. The film mentions most of his major works. There is even a Nick Fury joke for the hardcore fans. He clearly plays a characture of himself, and it’s kind of fun to see him have fun with such a silly portrayal.
I didn’t have much expectation going into Killing Hasselhoff, I’d never even heard of it until it showed up in my mail box. The fact that I didn’t hate this movie speaks volumes. However, I’m still hard pressed to call it a good movie. It’s got a pretty solid cast and if you’re fans of any of these comedians then the movie might be worth your time. Luckily it clocks in at 81 minutes.
The film is presented in a 1.85:1 widescreen format and 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. This is a great looking indie film and the sound is fine.
Deleted Scenes: (8 min.) Nothing much worth watching here.
I can’t imagine anyone would expect much from a film called Killing Hasselhoff. If you go in with very low expectations you might be midly amused.
Universal presents Killing Hasselhoff. Written by: Peter Hoare. Directed by Darren Grant. Starring Kim Jeung, David Hasselhoff, Jim Jefferies, Rhys Darby and Jon Lovitz. Running time: 81 min. Rating: R for language and strong sexual references throughout, some nudity, drug use and violence. Released on DVD: August 29, 2017.
