For many guys (especially those of college age), Tucker Max's book, "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell" is something of a Holy Bible. For those of you who don't know, it's a collection of stories about the crazy things that happen to him when he gets drunk and tries to score with women. While the stories are true (he has a disclaimer that says he changed some details to avoid criminal prosecution), the film is not. It borrows from many of his stories and stirs them all together in a narrative that is surprisingly coherent.
The film's story follows Tucker, his friends Dan (a stand in for El Bingeroso, and performed by Jeff Stults) and Drew (a stand in for Sling Blade, and performed by Jesse Bradford) as they go to a strip club to throw a bachelor party before Dan's upcoming wedding to Kristy (Keri Lynn Pratt). Needless to say, things get pretty crazy in a true Tucker Max fashion.
I'm a huge fan of Tucker Max. I've read all his stories multiple times, and they never cease to crack me up. Although my favorite story, "Tucker Goes to a Hockey Game," doesn't make an appearance, the film contains a good number of laughs. Judging by the god-awful trailer, that was more than I was expecting.
The acting is of low quality, which I guess comes with a 10 million dollar budget. The film's biggest blunder was casting Matt Czuchry as Tucker. He's terrible; there's not a single moment where he becomes credible. Czuchry ranges from hyper and over-the-top to low-key and boring, with little room inbetween. Jesse Bradford isn't much better, which is kind of startling considering his resume (which includes films by Oliver Stone, Clint Eastwood and Steven Sodebergh). More successful is Geoff Stults, who is solid. It's not a great performance, but we can feel for him to at least a limited extent. The women in the film give the best performances. Keri Lynn Pratt is a unique choice for Kristy; her high pitched voice is her most notable quality. But Pratt is quite effective in the role of Dan's fiancée. There's a scene where she really shines (I don't want to give anything away, so I won't describe it). It's a clichéd scene, but it only works as well as it does because of Pratt. The best performance goes to Marika Dominczyk, who plays Lara, the stripper with a quick wit and who sees the reason behind Drew's hatred of women. Lara is a really likable girl, and in terms of acting, she steals the show (which may seem like faint praise considering the lack of talent most of the actors here exhibit, but Dominczyk is really good).
The direction is flat, and it's immediately obvious that this was a cheaply made movie. The sound is especially troublesome, because it goes in and out in some parts.
But as bad as the film should be, it really isn't. There are plenty of big laughs to be had. With production values this bad, the only reason why it works is because the script is so funny. It's not perfect; some of the lines are either too cute, long winded, or both), but there's a lot of material here that is funny enough in its own right that it would be near impossible to make it not worth any laughs.
A little on the long side (at least the unrated version is), but "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell" is still worth a few laughs.
The film's story follows Tucker, his friends Dan (a stand in for El Bingeroso, and performed by Jeff Stults) and Drew (a stand in for Sling Blade, and performed by Jesse Bradford) as they go to a strip club to throw a bachelor party before Dan's upcoming wedding to Kristy (Keri Lynn Pratt). Needless to say, things get pretty crazy in a true Tucker Max fashion.
I'm a huge fan of Tucker Max. I've read all his stories multiple times, and they never cease to crack me up. Although my favorite story, "Tucker Goes to a Hockey Game," doesn't make an appearance, the film contains a good number of laughs. Judging by the god-awful trailer, that was more than I was expecting.
The acting is of low quality, which I guess comes with a 10 million dollar budget. The film's biggest blunder was casting Matt Czuchry as Tucker. He's terrible; there's not a single moment where he becomes credible. Czuchry ranges from hyper and over-the-top to low-key and boring, with little room inbetween. Jesse Bradford isn't much better, which is kind of startling considering his resume (which includes films by Oliver Stone, Clint Eastwood and Steven Sodebergh). More successful is Geoff Stults, who is solid. It's not a great performance, but we can feel for him to at least a limited extent. The women in the film give the best performances. Keri Lynn Pratt is a unique choice for Kristy; her high pitched voice is her most notable quality. But Pratt is quite effective in the role of Dan's fiancée. There's a scene where she really shines (I don't want to give anything away, so I won't describe it). It's a clichéd scene, but it only works as well as it does because of Pratt. The best performance goes to Marika Dominczyk, who plays Lara, the stripper with a quick wit and who sees the reason behind Drew's hatred of women. Lara is a really likable girl, and in terms of acting, she steals the show (which may seem like faint praise considering the lack of talent most of the actors here exhibit, but Dominczyk is really good).
The direction is flat, and it's immediately obvious that this was a cheaply made movie. The sound is especially troublesome, because it goes in and out in some parts.
But as bad as the film should be, it really isn't. There are plenty of big laughs to be had. With production values this bad, the only reason why it works is because the script is so funny. It's not perfect; some of the lines are either too cute, long winded, or both), but there's a lot of material here that is funny enough in its own right that it would be near impossible to make it not worth any laughs.
A little on the long side (at least the unrated version is), but "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell" is still worth a few laughs.