Starsky & Hutch

Released 2004
Stars Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Juliette Lewis, Snoop Dogg, Chris Penn, Terry Crews, Will Ferrell
Directed by Todd Phillips

The mining of old television shows continues, and, while one wouldn't expect much from a movie version of the vintage late-1970s TV cop series, Starsky and Hutch, this is one time when the filmmakers have uncovered some surprisingly rich ore. The key to the film's success is that it uses the burned out premise as the springboard for a comedy, not an action flick. Rather than updating the idea and playing it straight, as in S.W.A.T., Starsky and Hutch takes its cue from The Brady Bunch Movie and veers into the realm of satire. However, while The Brady Bunch Movie lost momentum because it was essentially a one-joke concept, Starsky and Hutch manages to be just funny enough to remain entertaining for its entire 95-minute running length.

The nuts and bolts of the plot don't much matter; the story is just an excuse for Stiller and Wilson to lampoon the one-time TV icons and have fun splashing around in their lagoon of '70s excess. The satire is gentle and genial, but unmistakable, with lots of affection for the television version. Starsky faces off in a disco dance-off with a John Travolta wannabe. Hutch croons "Don't Give Up On Us Baby," which was a #1 pop song in 1977 when sung by David Soul (the TV Hutch). We gets lots of '70s songs and schtick, and nearly all of it works to good comedic effect. Even the usually annoying Vince Vaughn (as the bad guy) and Juliette Lewis (as his vacuous wife) aren't tiresome in this setting.

Summary by James Berardinelli

I had never seen the tv show, but I had to watch the movie because the show was one of wife's favorites. It had its funny moments, but they made me look at that awful Snoop thing several times. That's something I try to avoid in my life... There's just not much I have to say about this movie, but I have noticed a disturbing trend. No, not plumbing bad 70's tv for movie ideas, but movies that have the f-word and shy away from frontal nudity. They had the cheerleader undress in the locking room, but they only teased us for a few minutes with side and back views. I'll climb up on a soapbox now and say PG-13 should mean no f-words, and comedies like this should be rated R and have naked chicks. I mean, where would "Porkys" have been without naked chicks? --Bill Alward, September 29, 2004