Beerfest

Beerfest **

I must say, the comedy troop that wrote "Beerfest," who names themselve Broken Lizard, really must have confidence in themselves after calling themselves geniuses in the advertisments. While that might not be, they are still funny, have plenty of witty gags under their belt, and for some reason, can make a 110 minute movie go by as if it were under 80. There last offering "Club Dread" was plenty of fun, and while "Beerfest" may not have the full wit that their last offering did, it still is fun to watch, as long as its with a large audience, and one that doesn't take this kind of movie seriously. For example, when I saw the flick, there were four guys in the theatre, yelling at the screen often, and actually drinking beer. I can hear the glass bottles scatter along the floors as they walked out of their seats. This isn't the kind of film to watch at 12:00pm with the seniors looking for a discount, it's made for the 10:45PM crowd. The crowd of people who are looking for something to do on a Friday night when "World Trade Center" is too heavy for them, and "Little Miss Sunshine" is not playing.

"Beerfest's" five main characters are all played by the Broken Lizard troop-Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske. It's plot, or somewhat of a plot, involves Soter and Stolhanske as Jan and Todd Woflhouse, two brothers whose grandfather has just died after pulling his own plug in the hospital. They are instructed by their Great Gam Gam to go to Munich and spread his ashes at Octoberfest. The boys go, and soon find themselves in an underground festival known s Beerfest. There is only one rule-No one ever mentions Beerfest outside of Beerfest. It's a festival of beer drinking games, where teams of five from all over the world compete with one another. Germany rules supreme. The games range from tossing quarters into cups, pouring beer down another teammates throat from high up, and even drinking as much beer as you can upside down, like a monkey. However, the Germans always end up winning the final round, known as "Das Boot." And this is where the boys fail. The air bubble that pops whenever there is no more beer left in the toe area always explodes in their faces, making them choke on the beer, and also losing. And when the Germans accuse Jan and Paul's grandfather of stealing an ancient beer recipe years ago for the greatest beer in the world, they challenge them to a beer drinking match, where Jan and Paul, out of practice, fail.

But that doesn't stop them. They return to the United States, and begin to assemble of team of three other people. There is Fink, the very smart Jewish doctor who works in a lab collecting samples from frogs. There is Barry, a former ping pong champion who has now had to resort to selling his body on the street for sexual favors, and then there is Landfill, the big man who can drink beer faster than anyone in the group, and who also worked in a brewery, and has years of experience. The five of them begin to drink beer around the clock, for an entire year, all leading up to the return to Munich, and the final round against the Germans.

Now, with a name like "Beerfest" how can you really go inside and expect a masterpiece? Like "Snakes on a Plane," Augest is a great month for movie titles. And "Beerfest' certainly does take advantage of the R rating. There is swearing, nonstop drinking, and even some nudity in the mix. It really does take the old dirty comedies from years past to heart, and it could be alot of fun. Many of the jokes do miss, some of them even taking to the extreme, but the Broken Lizard troop is best when they are being witty, as opposed to trying to be laugh out loud funny. For example, there is a nice trick towards the end with one of the actors playing a dual role, which is just plain clever. It's hard to explain without spoiling anything, but it allows the movie to have its share of heart and drama, and at the same time, completely making it as if nothing has changed. The plot isn't really important here, and I'll admit that when the plot came into focus, the movie lost it's charm. It's such a simple premise, that I'm glad they didn't overblow it by using it often. At times, I forgot that there was a story going on at all.

I can't give "Beerfest" a recommendation rating, because in the grand scheme of things, its not even a very good movie. But, for the twentysomething year olds, drunk off their asses on a Saturday night, they would love it. And anyone who loves beer. Or anyone who doesn't mind just getting silly for two hours without the hangover. I'll take the latter.