Customer Reviews

Strange Wilderness [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

***1/2

"Strange Wilderness" is a good-natured, frequently hilarious takeoff on all those nature documentaries that play on the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, and whose pedigree stretches all the way back to the granddaddy of them all, "Mutual of Omaha`s Wild Kingdom." Peter and Fred are the producers of a wildlife series entitled "Strange Wilderness" that has been foundering in the ratings ever since Peter's father, a Steve Irwin-type naturist and the original host of the show, passed away, leaving his less-than-stellar son to carry on his legacy. The sheer scientific illiteracy of much of the commentary that Peter provides for his footage probably hasn't helped matters much in this regard. Now faced with the prospect of series cancellation, Peter and his crew of incompetent dweebs head off to the wilds of South America to file an exclusive report on the famed Bigfoot who has recently been spotted there.

Though adolescent in the extreme, "Strange Wilderness" turns out to be a zany, endearingly random and unflaggingly energetic little comedy whose likable cast is obviously dialed into what the moviemakers are trying to do here. Steve Zahn, Allen Covert, Covert, Ernest Borgnine, Jeff Garlin, Kevin Heffernan, Justin Long and Harry Hamlin seem to be having the time of their lives here and their enjoyment rubs off on us as well.

Is it dumb? Of course it is. Is it lowbrow, inane and hopelessly juvenile? You betcha'. But unlike so many other films that fall into those categories, "Strange Wilderness" has a shrewd mind for parody and a liveliness of spirit that actually make the movie funny. Credit scenarist Peter Gaulke and co-author/director Fred Wolf (who first developed this concept as sketches on "Saturday Night Live") for some excellent joke-writing and pacing and for their willingness to pull out all the stops in their effort to get the laugh. In fact, the crew's ill-fated encounter with Bigfoot is alone worth the price of admission.

This ranks among one of my all time favorite comedies of all time. Obviously it's not groundbreaking or extremely clever (the dick jokes and low brow humor in general) but its worth the money. There are better reviews so I'm not gonna delv too far into it for this one. In conclusion, you don't need to smoke to enjoy this movie but it helps ;)

Not even marginal..just bad. Jonah Hill, usually pretty funny, is painful to watch and talks in a goofy fake character voice. Jeff Garlin has a small part..what was he thinking? The soundtrack is the only redeeming quality.

I think I had higher expectations for this movie than I should have. If you're looking for a crude, mindless comedy - and trust me, sometimes I'm in the mood for those, I don't think they're awful - then this is probably a good choice. It had it's clever moments, but altogether, I just didn't find myself laughing very much. Maybe it would have been more fun if I had watched it with a group of friends. The plot, also, seemed really thrown together.

There is one thing that almost makes this movie worth all of the bad stoner jokes for me - the laughing shark scene. I replayed that part four or five times, and every single time it almost brought me to tears. Actually, most of the "documentary" scenes were pretty good.

There are just so many funny quotes from this movie. It is just so stupid. The general premise is that a underachieving group of second rate professional nature show members(crew and presenters) go on a wild journey to find big foot and save their shows reputation. My favorite Steve Zahn movie. You'll never think about the people who bring you these nature shows in the same way again (that is of course, if you like this movie). I'm surprised to see that it is so underrated but that seems to be a reoccurring theme here at Amazon. It is a classic stoner movie but I think most people would find this funny without a need for weed, unlike something like "Cheech and Chong".

This is one of my all-time favorite movies. I really can't get enough of this film. It's pure comedy, with a great soundtrack, hilarious actors, and great filming locations. It's got way too many instant-classic lines to even go into here.

Yes, the comedy in this movie is low brow. However, it is the kind of low brow humor that is overlooked because it is so freakin hilarious. #1 on my "funniest movies of all time" list.

my husband asked me for this for xmas, and its really funny, especially after a long day and you need a good chuckle. Justin Long is hilarious in this movie, as usual. really a great cast and funny show.

Good-natured fun movie that is good for a few cheap laughs. If you're expecting a life changing, eye-opening blockbuster then go rent Amistad or something. If you're expecting a movie that will keep you entertained and make you chuckle, you came to the right place. Stupid humor in its natural habitat. And remember, Monkeys make up over 80% of the world's monkey population.

Well, I thought this movie definitely shined most the time - Yes there are drug humor references.. so what? It was hilarious to watch - kept me in stitches throughout. Talking about how we could learn from the gentle ways of bigfoot while on an expedition, then filling him full of lead when they are surprised by Bigfoot walking out of a cave, when bigfoot utters "huh?"... then afterward the troop trying to justify killing him by asking the others around a campfire.. what was the last thing that horrible monster said.. and one responds.. "I think he said, huh? like he was surprised or something". Funny! A guy tattooing eyes on his eyelids so the people will think he is awake when he is asleep, the crazy voice overs to old stock animal footage.

It's a funny parody of Wild Kingdom-esque footage from the old days with some fun party humor mixed in - Yes.. if you liked grandmas boy (which I did) you will like this. It is witty, yet tasteless humor made for a sick mind - I Love it! And for all the bad reviews, I really wonder what your idea of top notch humor is... Love Guru? It is so easy to critique but I don't think this movie deserved the many bad reviews it got - we live in strange times where the movie Twilight is a blockbuster of sorts - and American Idol teens rule the ratings - a sad day for sure.

One thing I really DON'T like (and this happens a lot in movies that don't do as well as the corporation would like) is that since it didn't do so well, they didn't bother releasing a soundtrack.. there are lots of good songs on there that are credited but there are also a few that aren't credited and have no way of knowing who sung it. They may have been made just for the movie and are really good! I fear that these songs (one in particular) will never make it out of corporate limbo to my ipod because of the movie's poor numbers. I feel sorry for the musicians that will never really get their due.

There is a song in particular that I would kill to know who sung... it is being played during the RV scene when the nitrous tank springs a leak and they are partying with body paint, wedding dresses for the men, the gal is riding a guy's back like a bucking bronco, and this song that has the following lyrics is blaring; "Gonna climb a mountain for ya, gonna touch the sky, sun's burning out my eyes".. or something like that. Very cool sounding song with slow tempo, yet hard 70's rock feel - I want this song, but nobody knows squat about it. Release it already! Its been long enough! Forget the fact that the movie didn't make much.. maybe the songs will?