When you see a really horrible and worthless movie you're hesitant to ever watch it again; but when a friend insists that you missed the humor the first time through and to give it a second chance, you humor them. I did that with Strange Wilderness. That friend will never be allowed to recommend movies to me ever again. Ever. If you thought Date Movie was funny, then have we got the movie for you! If not, just pass by Strange Wilderness and never think twice.
Let's just be clear: there will be those who will defend this movie to the death calling it a "stoner film" and claiming it immune to all criticism. Not so. If Cheech & Chong set the bar all those years ago, Strange Wilderness passes safely underneath the bar with no worries about hitting its head. Being a stoner film isn't an excuse to have the worst writing known to man with jokes that haven't been funny since, well, ever. Example: when Blake Clark's character introduces himself as Dick, the entourage of idiots spends the next two minutes making dick jokes. It's that level of comedic genius. Maybe I give stoners too much credit, but that level of humor is beneath even them.
Peter Gaulke (Steve Zahn) has nature show in his blood. His father hosted Strange Wilderness to the top of the charts. When Peter took over the show plummeted and gradually fell from ratings and its primetime slot to a 3 a.m. airtime. With a two week cancellation notice from the network, Peter and his crew of imbeciles set off on a journey to find bigfoot after receiving a tip from a friend of the family. Accompanying Peter on his voyage is Fred (Allen Covert), Cooker (Jonah Hill), Whitaker (Kevin Heffernan), Junior (Justin Long), Danny (Peter Dante) and Cheryl (Ashley Scott). Along the way they lose all of their equipment, get new equipment, have a rave, lose their trailer, lose their front teeth and have a turkey gobble a cock. You're better off not knowing. While the aforementioned people should be embarrassed, Jeff Garlin, Ernest Borgnine and Robert Patrick should be ashamed for their participation. Permanently ashamed.
The smaller premise that Strange Wilderness is based on provides the only real bits of comedy found in here outside of a few funny song bits by Jonah Hill. Nature shows with inept voiceovers are funny - that's true. That was the basis for Strange Wilderness when the real-life Peter Gaulke and Fred Wolf started it back in the 90s. Unfortunately, by attempting to string it together with one of the worst narratives and some of the worst writing I've ever seen committed to film, the humor of the original premise dies.
This level of fare isn't all that unusual for Happy Madison Productions, Adam Sandler's personal filmmaking sandbox. Even with Sandler and Rob Schneider missing the presence of Allen Covert and Peter Dante, two men who owe any and all of their film careers to Sandler, makes it abundantly clear that it is indeed a Sandler undertaking. Covert and Dante have no business being filmed (especially Dante). While Covert can manage some semblance of line delivery, Dante just stares straight ahead into the camera trying his best to be funny. He fails. But the script failed first, so this time it's not entirely his fault. Everyone attached to Strange Wilderness should be embarrassed though - not just those two.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
We're given a behind the scenes look at three different moments from Strange Wilderness and not a single one of them is worth watching. It's an assortment of incoherent moments where we don't really learn anything about the movie, we're not entertained and we genuinely don't care when it's over. Besides that we have a full-blown interview with cast and promotional-esque featurette hosted by a woman who's genuinely funnier in her five minutes than the entire film. Finally we have some deleted scenes which no one should ever watch. There's no reason - deleted scenes exist so interested parties can see the secondary moments that fleshed out the story but weren't necessary or didn't fit time constraints. Strange Wilderness didn't really flesh out its story to begin with - nevermind deleted scenes.
"Strange Wilderness" is on sale April 14, 2009 and is rated R. Comedy. Directed by Fred Wolf. Written by Peter Gaulke, Fred Wolf. Starring Jeff Garlin, Jonah Hill, Justin Long, Robert Patrick, Steve Zahn, Allen Covert, Kevin Heffernan, Peter Dante, Ashley Scott.
