The word on the street is... (Starsky and Hutch: The Movie (DVD))

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	Starsky and Hutch: The Movie (DVD)
Date:	26/01/05 (115 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, All the S&H elements, Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear, Will Ferrell as Earl

Disadvantages: No Lalo Schifrin!, Owen Wilson

Starsky and Hutch – The Movie is weird for one main reason and that is that Lalo Schifrin's recognisable theme tune is sadly missing. That is possibly the one and only negative point about the whole film.

I was originally skeptical about the whole thing. Starsky and Hutch as a comedy/action film? With the stars of "comedy" Zoolander? To say that I didn't have high hopes would be an understatement.

David Starsky lives under the shadow of his mother, an excellent and widely respected ex-cop. He's a neat freak and in love with his car. Ken Hutchinson plays both sides of the law, a slob and only cares about himself. They have one thing in common – they're both crap at police work. Captain Dobey (Fred Williamson) hauls the two of them into his office for a dressing down. Hutch admires Starsky's hair, thinking it's a perm.

Capt. Dobey: "Hey. Why are you touching him? Jesus. You know something? You two deserve each other. Make nice. You two are partners."

In a moment of madness, Captain Dobey partners the two of them together and they stumble across a dead body that, in turn, leads the pair into a case which involves a huge drug deal.

Starsky and Hutch is the story behind the partnership and how the two detectives started working together. It's not a present day remake of the series (which would have been dreadful), nor is it an update for the two characters (a Starsky and Hutch 2004, if you will).

Ben Stiller does a good job as Starsky, although Wilson's Hutch is simply yet another role where he plays himself with his drawling voice becoming annoying after a while. Fred Williamson was never going to be Bernie Hamilton. Out of all the characters, I’d say he was the hardest to cast correctly, but Williamson does a very good job. Snoop Dogg's interpretation of the Huggy Bear character is excellent, if a touch darker than Antonio Fargas' original.

Huggy Bear: "I know some people that know some people that robbed some people."

The whole thing is played straight, which I think was a sensible move on the part of the director. The comedy is still there (even Vince Vaughan's 'tache is funny), but there's no mugging to camera and the pokes fun evenly at the characters and the era. Some of the set pieces are belly achingly funny; the Bat Mitzvah scene springs to mind, while some are simply plain weird, namely Starsky freaking out in the nightclub with Har Mar Superstar.

One of the highlights of the entire film was Will Ferrell's uncredited Big Earl who provides more than a few laughs (the jail phone interview being the prime example). It was also good to see that Starsky's car, the 1975 Gran Torino was granted character status in itself almost. The car still looked as cool in the movie as I remember it being in the 70s.

The story isn't outstanding by any stretch of the imagination, but the pace of the film remains fairly upbeat and constant throughout the 101 minute running time. As stated before, the set pieces are good and when brought together, do add up to a worthwhile hour and a half of entertainment without appearing disjointed.

More importantly, all the boxes have been ticked:
Starsky and Hutch? Check.
The Gran Torino? Check.
Huggy Bear? Check.
Capt. Dobey and some shouiting? Check.
70s setting? Check.
Hutch driving around in a crap car? Check.
Starsky and Hutch making the acquaintance of some ladies? Check.

What's not to enjoy? Thoroughly recommended (for those of you over 15 years of age, that is).

On a final note (S&H have just met a couple of cheerleaders and are entertaining them):

Hutch: Okay, let me ask you a question, which one do you want cause we're gonna stick to this?
Starsky: I've always had a thing for blondes.
Hutch: Good, cause I'll take anything.

Summary: