by Spencer Hawken

Created on: May 10, 2008

If ever there is an example of all the good stuff being in the trailer then it's for Strange Wilderness, the latest movies from Happy Madison studios. I remember having seen the trailer earlier in the year, thinking I might really enjoy this; the reality however was few laughs, and poorly cut together movie that annoyed me while trying to be funny.

Peter Gaulke (Steve Zahn) inherits his father's nature orientated TV show Strange Wilderness, he effectively ruins it narrating excitement over animals having sex and filming things he really should not be seeing. When studio Head Ed Lawson (Jeff Garlin) decides it's time to pull the plug on the show, Peter decides to hunt down a big story ; that's when long lost family friend Bill (Joe Don Baker) turns up, he claims to know the location of mythological beast Bigfoot.

As you no doubt could tell by my opening comments I was majorly unimpressed with this offering, I won't deny there were moments when I did laugh, but the majority of it was sad stoner (drug) jokes, farting, and comments about thongs that frankly a five year old could come up with. The only times I did really laugh were where the joke was so stupid I really could not understand how they made the movie. But then thinking back the movie stars Steve Zahn who while he did appear in some good movies also appeared in the awful Freak Talks About Sex.

What amuses me most (though not in a laughing manner) is the fact that the movie has some real onetime A-listers in its cast, Joe Don Baker best known from the James Bond Movies and Psycho, plays a deluded conspiracy theorist. While the great Ernest Borgnine stars as crewman Milo, Borgnine recently turned 91 and stated he wanted to reach his target of 200 movies before he died; I tell you know this actor looks 65 if that, it's wonderful how well this actor is doing for his age (maybe he is lying about his date of birth). Even with Borgnine's target clearly planted in his mind you really have to ask why he would want to be associated with something like this, the same applies to Baker.

The casting itself is familiar Grandma's Boy star Alan Covert plays 80's inspired Fred, Jeepers Creepers Justin Long (complete with tattoos on his eyelids of you guessed it his eyes), and Superbad's Jonas Hill as Cooker a brain dead drug influenced idiot, for want of a better term. Also along for the ride is Harry Hamlin from L.A. Law, Veronica Mars and soon Heroes, and Robert Patrick from Terminator 2 and the X-Files.

Strange Wilderness

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