Customer Reviews

Without a Paddle (Widescreen Edition)

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(26)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I saw this movie at a sneak preview with the local radio station. I was expecting it to be funny, just based on the trailers that I'd seen, and I wasn't disappointed. This movie struck me as being a grown up version of the goonies, with 3 childhood friends going on a treasure hunt that they never did while they were kids. There were a few slow moments, but through most of it, I laughed out loud!

Look, I walked into this movie expecting a complete bomb, and I was being more than generous at the time. Having never heard of it before, this "action-comedy starring that guy from Scooby-Doo and Dr. Evil's son" seemed less than appealing to me. But once the film started rolling, I was amazed at how hilarious it was. It is a story about four childhood friends who are now in their late 20's. One of them dies and the other three set out on a childhood journey to find the treasure of DB, a man who was lost during a parachute-jump and never returned. On their journey they encounter many obstacles, including a bear, two pot-farmers, tree-hugging hippies and many other hilarities. Although the acting is not top-notch, the comedy is worth the ticket, it is so saturated with jokes that I'm sure that I missed a good third of them.

OK for kids over 10

This was fun. Not deep, kinda silly, but I laughed out loud several times, and that is good enough for me.

3 best friends go on a treasure hunt out in the beautiful North West, meeting up with a bear, a couple motley pot growers(Abe Benrubi from ER, and Ethan Suplee, from The Butterfly Effect) and a real mountain man, Burt Reynolds.

The money is what they're after, but they find more. Friendship, life, and true values, amongst other things.

My sweetheart, Norman and I snuggled on the sofa and watched this while eating leftover salmon. Was nice to relax, no swearing or nudity - so it's OK for the kidlets. Probably not wee kids, but, over 10 or 12.

Good fun. Not terribly serious, but, isn't that nice once in a while? I think so!!

Okay. You probably won't take my advice, but I'll give it to you anyway; BUY THIS MOVIE. It is absolutely, 100 % mindless entertainment, but it's worth it! I saw it a couple of days after it came out, and fell in love. I went back to see it three more times, and bought it as soon as it came out on DVD. I even bought the poster, which I've never done for any other movie or television series. That's all there is to it!

I went to see this movie thinking it was going to be funny. I was right! This movie had me laughing all the way through, from the bear attack to the weed farm to the Earth-child tree house, this movie lived up to my expectations and then some.

When their friend Billy dies on one of his many adventures, Jerry, Tom, and Dan go back to Oregon and encounter their old tree house with all their childhood memorabilia. They find a box with relics they put in that was not supposed to be removed until they found DB Cooper's treasure. Supposedly he parachuted into the woods with a bunch of stolen cash but was never seen since. Billy had even marked out the trip on a map and had wanted to go with the guys on a camping trip the previous summer, but none of them could make it. Tom was detained in Mexico. So, to honor their friend, and despite Dan's "I'm Dr. Mott now!" objection, the three decide to follow Billy's map and finally search for DB's treasure.

The trip starts out with a pit stop in a very run-down town. Using Dan's satellite cell phone, Jerry runs into some trouble with his girlfriend, who is tired of waiting for him to settle down. Once they barely escape from a shariff with no teeth, it's off into the woods to christen a red canoe, much to a Native American's dismay. "Thanks for breaking glass where my kids play." Smoothe, Jerry, whose response was, "...oh."

When they finally land for the night, things go fine until Tom decides he wants to fish by "flashing them". Dan bets $1000 and his left, well, anyway, he bets he can't do it. The first fish Jerry and Dan forget to catch out of stupidity, but the second was out of fear of the bear that Tom doesn't notice until Jerry starts taking off his shoes.
"You can't outrun that bear."
"I don't have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you." Dan trips while running and Tom suggests the fetile position. The bear then takes him for a cub and carries him off. "ABORT THE FETILE POSITION!" Hey, how many chances do you have to try freshly caught...what was it? A raccoon? Well, that night was spent in a tree and Dan's brand new cell phone becomes a tasty snack.

The next day the bear is scared off by explosion sounds and the trio sees a boat with two ugly rednecks in it throwing grenades into the water. Dan wants to cut through the woods and start out on the other side. When they do, they miss the fork and end up on the wrong side of it. Although Tom made himself out to be a Class-45 river rafter, they don't have much luck and end up sailing over a 100-foot waterfall. Now they don't have a canoe or a map, which the bear had clawed through anyway.

They set off into the woods and come across civilization and Creed wafting through the air. However, when they get close enough, they find the same two rednecks they were trying to avoid earlier talking to beheaded fish. They hide in their shed which is stuffed with packages of grade-A marijuana. One wrong move and dogs Lynyrd and Skynyrd are on their tail. So after setting off the flares that light up the entire marijuana field, which ultimately sets the field on FIRE, Tom, Jerry, and Dano take off. Half-way through, everyone is completely stoned. They manage to escape, though. So...onward into the woods.

Earth-child. No, not just any old hippie. A tree. The soaked guys, after swearing they aren't from the logging company, "If you're from the logging company you'll have to speak to our lawyers!", are allowed to come up and meet Flower and Butterfly. Slug (Jerry) and Condor (Dano) are immediately embraced (what was Tom called again?) and they discover just how "natural" the two girls really are. They try to radio for help, but the signal is intercepted by the rednecks who are after them. When they try to cut down Earth-child, Tom, Dano, and Jerry make a run for it in nothing but their underwear. (Butterfly and Flower were drying their clothes off, in case you were wondering.) Even though flying bags of, well, (what would you use the "little tree's room" for?) are thrown on their heads, the rednecks don't give up on Earth-child until Tom rides off with one of their wheelies and ends up driving it off a cliff. Surviving the drop, Tom, Jerry, and Dano escape into the woods again, and this time, Dano finally gets a kiss farewell. (Flower is the hairy woman of his dreams!)

Now it's dark and cold. Dano is tired and they're in front of a cave. Once you hear the lyrics, "My mind's telling me no, but my body...my body's tellin me yes", you know it's going to go a little crazy. Hey, it's cold! And as Tom said, "This never leaves the cave." After Jabba leaves his hut because Jerry can't keep his exotic thoughts in his head (poor Dano, it's not his fault), the scary mountain man Del Knox shows up and leads them back to his cabin.

He doesn't kill them, but he does tell them that he was DB Cooper's best friend. He spent 30 years up in those mountains. He couldn't leave. The next morning comes along. Dano wakes up.
Dano: Mmm...bacon.
Del: Squirrel.
Dano: Mmm...squirrel.
The rednecks can't read for anything, but they can track, and sure enough, after Jerry finds the eaten cell phone (does a bear -poop- in the woods?), they catch up to them. Del takes care of them temporarily so Tom, Jerry, and Dano can escape.

The compass isn't working. The iron in the mines is throwing it off. Revelation! If it's throwing their compass off, it must've thrown DB Cooper's compass off! Next thing they know, they've fallen through a mine shaft. And...da da da DA...there they come face-to-face with none other than DB Cooper himself...well, what's left of him. After burning his treasure to stay alive for a few more hours, he froze to death. Their mission complete, they get their relics back (a C3PO collectible, a rookie card, and a rubber -good going Tom-) and decide to place it with DB Cooper and his treasure. Then the rednecks show up...again. Dano slipped through a hole in the shaft to freedom with the help of singing a "Culture Club" song. He then knocks the two trouble-makers into the hole with Jerry and Tom. A fight ensues. Dano picks up a grenade that was dropped. The same sheriff from town shows up. Problem solved, right? WRONG!

The rednecks work for the sheriff and all guns are pointed at Jerry, Tom, and Dano. Once Jerry is given possession of the grenade, he gives the three thugs a choice:
Jerry: I've decided my life's worth living. And if you decide that your lives are worth living (actual dialogue may vary), you'll put your guns down.
Sheriff: And if we don't?
Jerry: (pulls grenade) Bye-bye, boys.
The grenade hits a tree and the three thugs are caught under it. Back in town (not the run-down town but Jerry, Tom, and Dano's hometown) the thugs are arrested and Del gives the guys a little surprise: DB's parachute. He has DB's bones in his backpack and plans to see the world.
Del: Maybe even Washington.
Jerry:...wow...one state.
Inside the parachute is Del's share of the treasure: $100,000 I think it was. Jerry doesn't want it. Dano doesn't want it. (Hell, he's "Dr. Mott" now!) so Tom, who isn't the Harley salesman he claimed to be, uses it to pay off his debts.

In the end:

Jerry asks his girlfriend to marry him and she says yes.
Dano and Flower share an intimate moment in Earth-child.
Tom confuses a bunch of boyscouts at a camp fire.
The movie ends leaving you with only one burning question:

"What's a 'downstairs'?"

Enough said.

Hysterical! This movie was funny the whole way through! It starts out with four best friends since childhood, Dan, Jerry, Tom, and Billy. Billy ends up dying early on in the movie, leaving the three now adult friends remembering him. They go through some things they use to do when there were younger. They come upon a box, which in it contains information about a guy who stole some money and a map that marks where the treasure is. So Dan (Seth Green), Jerry (Matthew Lillard), and Tom (Dax Shepard) decide to go on the trip to find the treasure, the trip that they never got to do with Billy. Well, it is harder than it seems. They will have to go through many obstacles if they want to find the treasure. They will have to travel by boat and by land. Things seem to go on their trip that makes it go upside down! I actually thought this was going to be one of those just o.k. movies. I was wrong. It started out funny and I laughed the whole way through. Teenagers will love to this movie! This movie teaches some lessons about friendship and having to work together. A great movie for teens and above to see!!

This is by far the best buddy whacky wild adventure of the year. It was not only a laugh out loud comedy but in a way a story that makes you think of your own life and if your living it to the fullest. I found the three main characters (Seth Green ,Dax Sherped, Matthew Lillard ) to be extremely likable characters and it really gave you the sense that they where all really good friends. I found that how theses old friends come back together after one of their close friends dies, which makes them embark on this treasure hunt of adventure. The movie itself is very pleasing and if you in for a warm-hearted flick this is the one to bring you on the wild river.

While the film wasn't exactly that original because we have seen this type of comedy before in movies like city slickers and stand by me, throughout the course of the film it does become halariuos and very entertaining especialy since Seth Green, Mathew Lillard and the other guy were all great because if it wasn't for them this would have probably been the dumbest movie ever. The story is that all three characters were childhood friends including one other guy who had died when he is older so the other guys meet each other after the funeral and decide to go on a treasure hunt in onour of their dead friend. They soon go on a trip to the woods, they first ride a canoue to the river but each of the guys don't have any expeirence and more halarity ensues as they meet some crazy hillbillies who grow a field of pot in what is probably the most halarious scene in the movie, they also meet two enviromental chicks who look like hippies and Burt Reynolds in a great cameo "You guys better dress quick because I haven't left this cabin for 30 years."
I recomend this to anyone who is looking for a great laugh.

The first time I saw this movie I CRIED from laughing so hard.
I don't know if that was because I had no idea what to expect or because it just struck me as very, very funny at first.

I purchased the DVD based on the good laughs, however, when I saw it again, I realized that this is the sort of movie that really only works the first time around.

It's still a cute, though overly cheesy movie, but unlike other films, this one does not get better the more you watch.

I still give it 3 stars because it's just one of those films you watch on a really boring day. NO deep thinking required, no strange twists or plots to follow.
I still get a few chuckles here and there and that's about the best that can be expected from a light comedy such as this.

This movie is extremely funny! I laughed throughout the entire film. If you're ready for a good time and good laughs then don't hesitate to see this movie!