Starring: Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Sorte
Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar
Rated R
From the guys who brought you Super Troopers and Club Dread, comes not only the worst comedy I’ve ever seen, but one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Director Jay Chandrasekhar’s Beerfest is like one bad SNL skit that just doesn’t know when to end. If you compiled a list of the worst scenes in every comedy you’ve ever seen, and then put them all together then you might have some idea of what Beerfest is like.
If I wasn’t reviewing it I would have walked out numerous times, in fact some did. I don’t blame them. If I had to pay money I would demand a refund. This should have gone straight to DVD. American brothers Todd and Jan Wolfhouse (Erik Stolhanske and Paul Soter) must go to Germany’s Oktoberfest in order to spread the ashes of their late grandfather. Once there, the two realize they stand out, and when they sing “99 Bottles of Beer” as their anthem all hell breaks lose. It’s at this point that I saw where this movie was going to go. The Wolfhouse brothers stumble and fall like Steve Urkel on “Family Matters,” making a domino effect in which everyone and everything gets knocked over. The guys manage to brace their falls by grabbing onto women’s shirts so they rip off. This slapstick juvenile humor doesn’t work in the film because it’s extremely forced and unnecessary. It may turn on middle school boys, but I’m not amused. Scenes like this are all that Beerfest has to offer.
With the guidance of a family friend, Todd and Jan drunkenly stumble into an underground layer, which holds the true Beerfest. It is here that the brothers run into German cousins who say that their grandfather stole the recipe to “The greatest beer in all zie world,” says Otto (Will Forte). After Todd and Jan are humiliated, they vow to return next year with a beer drinking team. The only funny thing in the entire movie is the antics of one of the team members, Barry, played by Chandrasekhar, such as a scene when he is being recruited for the American beer drinking team. He is found under a bridge, working as a gigolo.
The accents in the movie (and there are plenty) are unbearable to listen to. They aren’t funny. They are, however, stupid and Neanderthal like. They aren’t even handled in a well-timed, slapstick kind of way. I don’t even know what to call it except bad acting. Everyone tries to go so over the top and act like everything is so exciting that the expressions become unbearably forced. Just about every female in the movie will take their top off at some point. I feel sorry for them, but maybe they feel sorry for me. I have to watch the movie; they got paid.
