The Dukes of Hazzard

Hollywood studios, like most businesses, don’t really care where the next idea comes from, only that it return more cash than the cost. So don’t expect the big screen remakes of TV shows to end any time soon and, in fact, since there are more shows now than every, we’ll probably get more of them. Sometimes this works well, as with Star Trek, The X-Files and The Untouchables, and other times… well I’m sure we all wish that the execs had left Val Kilmer’s version of The Saint and Nicole Kidman’s Bewitched in development hell.

The Dukes of Hazzard falls somewhat in between. I expect there are a few more deserving scripts languishing in Hollywood that would be money better spent but this movie has just enough of an edge to keep it off the crap pile. This I credit to director Jay Chandrasekhar, a key member of the very subversive Broken Lizard comedy crew (Super Troopers, Club Dread).

There are also two surprisingly good acting jobs. Seann William Scott as the slightly more airheaded brother Bo is just a perfect fit for the role; this is perhaps the pinnacle of the progression of characters he’s played since American Pie, stupid, aggressive, not quite connected to reality. Plus, he got much better lines than Johnny Knoxville’s Luke Duke. If it weren’t necessitated by the original TV show, I could almost see leaving the Luke character out. Except Luke has the smarts to drive the plot, though perhaps cousin Daisy could handle that portion. The other really good acting comes from Burt Reynolds as Boss Hogg; he plays the ‘villain’ broadly enough to retain the cartoony feel.

moderately recommended

P.S. In an amusing coincidence, M.C. Gainey, who plays Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane here, had a bit part in one episode of the TV show.