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Wild Hogs (2007) Starring Tim Allen, John Travolta, William H.Macy, Martin Lawrence, Jill Hennessy, Ray Liotta, John C.McGinley, Marisa Tomei, M.C. Gainey, Stephen Tobolowsky, Steve Landesberg, Peter Fonda, Kevin Durand, Tichina Arnold, Dominic Janes, Randy Sklar, Margaret Travolta, Patrick O'Neal, Jessica Tuck, Liezl Carstens.

Directed by Walt Becker

Running time: 100 minutes

Rating: PG-13

"It's like taking a trip to nowhere"

Dentist Doug (Allen) who thinks his son Billy hates him, henpecked plumber Bobby (Lawrence), lonely computer programmer Dudley (Macy) and mildly homophobiac financier Woody (Travolta) are middle-aged American guys in a pretend motorcycle gang in Cincinnati called the Wild Hogs. They go on a road trip to New Mexico, are stalked by an alternative lifestyle highway patrolman (McGinley), clash with real bikers, explore mid-life crisis and their own masculine identity. Think City Slickers on motorcycles instead of horses and less funny.

What does it mean to be a man in modern times? The answer is different for each of us particularly since we have so much more time to think about it than men used to have. For me it is not being like any of the insecure bonehead male characters in this movie for a start. Their idea of roughing it is tossing their cellphones, playing biker and going on a glorified camping expedition. They make it rougher than it needs to be by their own ineptitude and silly pretensions which I guess is the statement this film makes on modern masculinity if it makes one at all.

Why frame it in the context of a biker road trip? That is about breaking down the barriers. Characterising it as men getting together and talking about their feelings would be construed as effeminate. But this IS men getting together and talking about their feelings albeit in a very sanitised way. The bending over backwards to get that PG-13 rating immasculates it completley.

Most of the one-liners go over like lead balloons as do the sight gags.

I still have to wonder how Tim Allen (real name Tim Dick) got himself into a family entertainment niche. On a tabloid news show it was revealed that he hosted the video version of the annual "Nudes-a-Poppin'" beauty pageant. His stand-up act was not exactly family viewing either and then there's his drug bust. People really can change. Even their public image can change 180 degrees. How many times is he going to play a father trying to connect with his kid onscreen?

As for John Travolta, he was at one very brief time the

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