Starsky & Hutch (2004)

Memorable, crazy movie

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Starsky (Ben Stiller) is an uptight detective who gets tied up with every small infractions. Hutch (Owen Wilson) is a wildcard. The captain decides to put these two outsiders together. They team up to investigate a murder that leads to drug kingpin Reese Feldman (Vince Vaughn) who has a new undetectable coke.They are recycling all the iconic 70s shows into a weird funny parody. Every once in awhile, they put in the silly Will Ferrell character. In the center of it all, it's all about the great chemistry between Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. They have a easy comradery.It has one foot in comedy and the other in a police drama. Vince Vaughn has enough menace to be the bad guy, but certainly light-hearted enough to be in a comedy. Everybody has a nice easy chemistry.

If you're a fan of the original series and not interested in seeing it parodied, I suggest giving this movie a miss.There are various "golden oldie" songs throughout the movie which were enjoyable to listen to and sing along to but some of the footage that accompanied these songs seemed overtly and unnecessarily sexual.The characters of Starsky and Hitch seemed considerably less concerned with fair play and honesty than the TV series' counterparts.The highlight of the movie was probably the cameos of David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser in the last few minutes of the movie. Amusingly, Soul's character was dressed identically to Wilson's character, as were Stiller and Glaser's characters, Glaser and Stiller in Starsky's leather jacket and Soul and Wilson in Hutch's standard style of outfit.There were a few clever gags (literally a few, three, I think) but some of it was rather obnoxious and parents should be warned, like many remakes of old/older stories/series, a lot of this is NOT suitable for children or young teens. The TV series is suitable for a fairly young audience but I'd probably prefer not to show the movie to under 15s.Starsky's character changed throughout the movie with no really clear reason why. I found this bizarre.I've been there, watched it, and am unlikely to ever bother with it again.

Having not seen the original series I can't judge this movie as a remake, however it does allow me to rate the movie on its own merits. Personally I thought it was absolutely brilliant!There are good performances from Stiller and Wilson (although they do seem to play very similar characters to those we have seen them play in other movies) and Snoop Dog absolutely steals the show. Whilst it isn't smashing cinematic boundaries and revolutionising movie making, it's a funny, enjoyable movie with some scenes that had me, and my whole family, in tears with laughter. A particular example is the scene in which Starsky inadvertently pours Cocaine into his Coffee assuming it to be sugar leading to 10 minutes of side splitting comedy.Whilst fans of the old TV series may not like it for being inauthentic (although my dad, who seemed to model his fashion sense in the 70s on the show, loved the movie), on it's own this movie stands very well, and a cut above much of the mindless, unfunny drivel the seems to be calling itself comedy these days.

Starsky and Hutch is a vastly underrated movie. I appreciate the talents of Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson when no one else does. I really enjoyed Stiller in Dodgeball and Anchorman both of which also came out in 2004. Owen Wilson has always been one of my favorite comedians.This is a classic ripoff of the 70's TV show. This is another buddy cop comedy and it's a good one. It's about the pairing of two crazy cops who decide to investigate a big drug sting that's due to happen.Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller have great chemistry together. I also though Snoop Dogg is great as Huggy despite my original misgivings. I have to say that Will Ferrell cracked me up the most though.Overall, this is a great movie. I had a good time watching it. I guess most people don't like it cause they compare the TV show and the movie. I rate this film 8/10.