Product Details

• Actors: Bill Engvall, Billy Ray Cyrus
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: September 2, 2008
• Run Time: 85 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001BEK8HE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,339 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Bait Shop stars the eternally affable yet exasperated comedian Bill Engvall as Bill Dugan, owner of a homey but smalltime bait shop. Bill's job and self-respect are threatened when arrogant fishing celebrity Hot Rod Johnson (Billy Ray Cyrus, better known as Miley's dad) opens a massive fishing superstore right next door. Only by challenging Hot Rod in a bass fishing tournament can Bill set things right! Bait Shop is a bundle of clumsy cliches made somewhat tolerable by a likable cast (including outlaw country music singer Billy Joe Shaver as Bill's mentor) and an enthusiastic performance by Cyrus, who clearly enjoys being the bad guy for once. High points include Bill having a bar fight while dressed in a fish costume and Bill wrestling an obviously rubber bass into his boat. There are many declarations about how fishing used to be more pure and how friendship is the most important thing in life. Extras include a standard-issue making-of documentary, some beautiful shots of the local landscape (which, inexplicably, never got used in the movie itself), some understandably deleted scenes and some scenes of the cast goofing around. All in all, not much effort was put into making either the movie or the DVD. --Bret Fetzer

Product Description

Bill Engvall, Billy Ray Cyrus, Billy Joe Shaver. Forced to pony up $15,000 to keep the bank from foreclosing on his bait shop, a Southern bass master enters a fishing tournament and goes head-to-head against his bitter bait shop rival. Talk about reel" funny! 2008/color/85 min/PG/widescreen.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good clean fun November 26, 2008

By B.Barrier

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

No bad language, no innuendo, just good clean fun from Bill Engvall and Billy Ray Cyrus. I had no idea that Bill could really act. Sure some of the jokes are corny, but just sit back, relax, and just enjoy.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Innocuous, Family-Friendly Comedy... October 12, 2009

By Benjamin J Burgraff VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

I'm a fan of Bill Engvall, one of the nicest, most family-friendly of the 'blue-collar' comedians, and "Bait Shop" plays to his strengths, as the debt-ridden but easy-going owner of a run-down bait shop frequented by an array of likable oddballs. With the bank calling in his mortgage, he is about to lose everything, and resign himself to a menial job with his smarmy, successful father-in-law, 'The Mattress King' (Harve Presnell)...but the Bass Masters Professional Fishing Tournament is in town, with a $50,000 prize, and a rules loophole that allows him (an amateur and past champion) to compete...against the world's greatest angler, egotistical Hot Rod Johnson (Billy Ray Cyrus). Can Engvall, with his rusty boat, ancient equipment, and long-latent fishing instincts, defeat state-of-the-art, high-powered 21st century technology? Do you have any doubt?

This isn't 'classic' comedy in any sense, but it never falls into the rut of 'toilet humor' (a frequent problem of the films of Engvall's peers), and it does promote positive family values, which is a happy 'plus'. Engvall is a 'natural', on camera, possessing the same kind of screen 'likability' as Tim Allen, and he and Cyrus play off each other surprisingly well.

"Bait Shop" isn't a 'must-have' kind of film, but makes a pretty good 'family movie night' entry!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars REEL GOOD September 10, 2012

By Michael TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:DVD

I was told by a 10 year old girl (the one who sold it to me at the flea market) this was a real good film. This film is to bass fishing what Rocky is to boxing...almost. Bill Dugan (Bill Engvall) owns a bait shop on a lake. He has a cast of regulars in the shop which reminded my of the scenes by the fence in "King of the Hill" which include one man (Rus Blackwell) into conspiracy theories. Bill has a wonderful wife (Mary Rachel Dudley), a son (Vincent Martella) who needs some adjusting, a father-in-law (Harve Presnell) who is wealthy, and unfortunately a balloon payment on his shop.

To make matters worse the flashy bass fisherman, Hot Rod Johnson (Billy Ray Cyrus) has opened a fish emporium store next to Bill's Bait Shop. Bill enters the local fishing tournament were the prize is $50,000 in order to save his shop. Bill uses his old fashion fishing methods, while Hot Rod uses the latest high tech fish finders.

The comedy was simple. The story ignores the fact of any zoning discussions, or how one must legally land a fish in a tournament. While the movie creates characters, most of them were caricatures.

A fairly good film for family night. Only very slight innuendos, such as when Bill and his wife wake up, he places his arm around her and she says, "No." Girls in bikinis.