Starsky & Hutch (2004)

Always thought it was kinda funny that two undercover cops drive around in a souped up Gran Torino with a custom paint job. What's that noise? oh its the fuzz in their muscle car.

The first parody of one of the two biggest TV shows with cool cars, the other being 'The Dukes of Hazzard'. Its nothing too outrageously original overall, a simple drug kingpin needs to go down and the cool duo are on the case.

Its not really about the plot though, this film is just about the humour and having a good time. Like many Stiller films its a sly sneaky spoof like comedy which is light hearted but not overkill with silly jokes. The casting of Stiller and Wilson is really good as they both fit the roles just perfectly, Stiller actually looking very similar to Glaser. Both guys take to the characters like ducks to water and really make the whole film very likeable and watchable.

Other casting includes 'frat pack' members Ferrell and Vaughn, both of whom raise the film giving nice performances. Loving Ferrell and his slightly creepy 'Big Earl' character. So the cast is great and really holds the film together but then I must give big kudos to the look of the film. Set in the 70's and to be honest you could easily think it really was. Very impressed at everything from all the cars driving around, street trash including those darn pesky car chase sequence cardboard boxes, the costumes, hair styles and even the way they used the cameras to get all those classic 70's TV show angles and zooms. They did tend to cram in almost every cliched 70's tune they could muster though, didn't need that, we get the idea.

Of course they do cater for the car porn folk out there, plenty of Torino action naturally, maybe too much?. Gotta expect that I guess, it is a nice looking and sounding car and virtually a character in its own right.

I think they went the right way with this as a serious attempt would have been laughable and I'm glad they didn't reduce the concept to childish smut. Its a by the books action comedy flick, but the fact its a neat little parody of a classic cop show which has actually been well thought out makes this worth your time in my view.

A little snippet here that shows the American muscle car isn't really what you'd think hehe. They look good yes and have HUGE engines with tonnes of BHP but at the end of the day they are still slow bricks I'm afraid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=GiAE0VzTQTM