Available at Amazon.com
Directed by
Jay Chandrasekhar
Cast:
Paul Soter …. Jan Wolfhouse
Erik Stolhanske …. Todd Wolfhouse/Young Baron Ludwig
Cloris Leachman …. Great Gam Gam
Jürgen Prochnow …. Wolfgang von Wolfhaus
Cameron Scher …. Helmut
Owain Yeoman …. Aussie Sailor #1
Tom Tate …. Aussie Sailor #2
Allan Graf …. Soup Waiter
Chris Moss …. German Producer
Bjorn Johnson …. Mr. Schniedelwichsen
Kevin Heffernan …. Landfill/Gil/Sausage Lady
Jay Chandrasekhar …. Barry Badrinath/Blind Sikh
Steve Lemme …. Steve “Fink” Finklestein/Emcee
Pab Schwendimann …. Door Bouncer
Philippe Brenninkmeyer …. Herr Referee
M.C. Gainey …. Priest
Have you ever seen a beer commercial and wondered what it would be like if the commercial went on for two hours? Apparently, the guys from Broken Lizards have wondered the same thing and decided to go ahead and make that two hour commercial. With tons of booze, nudity, and other shenanigans, Beerfest is like a frat boy’s wet dream. So the real question ends up being, does Beerfest work as a movie, or simply come off as a crass excuse for these guys act stupid and get drunk on screen? Thankfully, the movie ends up a little bit of both, as the comedy troupe’s banter keep’s the movie light and breezy and plenty of fun, even if most of the jokes don’t reach the level of their best film, Super Troopers.
Taking the framework of a sports movie, Beerfest is the story of Todd and Jan Wolfhouse (The Lizards’ Erik Stolhanske and Paul Soter), who stumble upon Beerfest, a Fight Club-like championship tournament where international teams compete to see who the best drinkers in the world are. Unfortunately, it turns out that the Wolfhouse’s have ties to the German team, and their grandfather may have even stolen the team’s recipe to the world’s greatest beer. Beaten and disgraced, the duo set out to put together a team of their own to both represent America and restore their family name.
If this sounds like one of the goofiest plots ever, you’re not far off, but there are pleasures to be found within. Again, there’s just a laid back charm to these guys that’s hard to deny. Along with Stolhanske and Soter, Lizards’ regulars Kevin Heffernan, Jay Chandrasekhar, and Steve Lemme are all along to act stupid and bring the funny the as much as possible. Though only about 50% of the jokes really work, there’s so many that are thrown at you that the laugh ratio stays pretty high.
As usual Kevin Heffernan gets a lot of the film’s spot light jokes. Though Stolhanske and Soter portray the main characters in the film, Heffernan makes his usual attempt to steal the entire movie with his bawdy, high school jock antics, and almost gets away with it. Too bad for him that despite getting one of the most ridiculous moments in a Comedy this year, Heffernan must yield to Director Jay Chandrasekha’s character Barry Badrinath; a male prostitute and all-star on their drinking team. Badrinat’s “beer goggles” sequence is probably the funniest sequence in the entire movie, and comes complete with a terrific punchline.
With faux-dramatic moments, great references to pop classics like Predator and Das Boot, and funny supporting roles from veterans Cloris Leachman and Jürgen Prochnow, Beerfest is a winner, but not a home run. Still, The Broken Lizards are like your high school buddies that didn’t grow up, they make you chuckle and manage to not overstay their welcome. You’re getting what you expect with Beerfest; it tastes pretty good, but its not very filling.
The Video
The disc looks nice, plain and simple. This is a terrific transfer from WB. The film is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1
The Audio
The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is also nice.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Commentaries
Two Audio Commentaries with Broken Lizards’ members Kevin Heffernan, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Jay Chandrasekhar and Steve Lemme – Not sure why the guys did two separate commentary tracks, but they’re both pretty funny. One track Heffernan, Soter, and Stolhanske on it and the other has Chandrasekhar and Lemme. What’s funny is that both tracks often tell the same anecdotes and stories at about the same time in the movie, so there’s a bit of overlap. Maybe there was just too much zaniness for all five guys to be in the same room at the same time.
Deleted Scenes – You get around a half hour of deleted scenes on this disc, with only a handful being really good. The best ones are unrated and Feature Steve Lemme’s Steve “Fink” Finklestein with in compromising positions with Ulsa (Simona Fusco), a member of the Swedish Drinking Team.
Party Foul – This Featurette has the guys talking about their inspirations for the movie, as well as some of their funniest drinking stories. This is pretty amazing, but only goes for about 10 minutes.
Beer 101 – This Featurette has the guys talking in front of weird animated backgrounds talking about the history of beer. They also go into the history of drinking games throughout the years, which actually manages to be kind of interesting.
Frog Fluffer – Steve Lemme visits a scientist that actually artificially inseminates frogs. This goes about four minutes.
