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Back Shelf Beauties
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The Dukes of Hazzard They're just two good ole boys, never meanin' no harm, and that's a good way to approach The Dukes of Hazzard. Don't expect anything more than a silly romp, and you'll be happy, especially since Jessica Simpson in those Daisy Dukes almost is showing a little bit more than the law will allow. Johnny Knoxville stars as Luke Duke and Seann William Scott plays Bo Duke - two cousins from Hazzard County, Georgia who like to drive fast and thumb their nose at the crooked County Commissioner, Boss Hogg (Burt Reynolds). Bo is preparing for the annual road rally race, and has a chance to set the record for total wins, but trouble is brewing like the moonshine in Uncle Jesse's still. Boss Hogg has been using trumped up charges to seize land all over Hazzard County, including the Duke farm, and a local racing hero, Bo Prickett (James Roday), has returned to town from professional racing to make sure Bo doesn't break his record. What is Boss Hogg's dastardly plan? Can Bo and Luke save the Duke farm? How many times will Daisy Duke have to shake her moneymaker for the camera? It's simple, kinda crass and more fun than jumping into the creek while Daisy is skinny dipping. The Dukes of Hazzard was one of my favorite TV shows as a kid, so I had a soft spot for the campy plot and intentionally stupid jokes, which is fair warning to anyone who is looking for high minded cinema. The Dukes of Hazzard is not a witty, intellectual exercise. It's more like 4th grade humor to the extreme, but everyone in the movie is in on the joke, and understands they're in it to make you laugh at any cost, which kept me giggling like a 9-year old the whole time. Scott is very funny as he makes Bo into a clueless guy who seems to love driving and the General Lee a little too much. He'll make you crack up as he talks to the car, misses obvious clues that the woman he loves has no interest in him and shows a general lack of social skills. Meanwhile, Knoxville, although he looks so pale and red-eyed you might think he was on a 3-month bender with no sleep (he must have been sick), makes Luke into a wacky, devil-may-care, slightly on edge guy looking for trouble at every turn. The two have great chemistry together, even when the movie starts to slow down towards the end. More importantly, I enjoyed Reynolds as a new, more menacing Boss Hogg. Whereas Sorrell Booke always made Hogg more cartoonish for the TV show, Reynolds, as well as M.C. Gainey as Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane, adds a needed meanness to the villain. He's still silly and funny, but he makes your skin crawl a little bit with his imposing, menacing, evil smirk. As for Simpson, her entire job in this role is to walk around with less and less clothing as if The Dukes of Hazzard was one long strip tease by her. Seriously, she starts off wearing the Daisy Duke hot pants and a blouse tied at the stomach, and is in a bikini by the end (if the movie went 20 minutes longer, she would have lost the bikini, it would have been rated R, and I might have been very very happy). While that is enjoyable to watch, I was almost shocked as she finds moments to show Daisy Duke's sly side. She's not a dumb, blonde bimbo in this movie, and if you think so, get ready to be as surprised as Enos, Roscoe and Boss Hogg. While The Dukes of Hazzard still has the folksy narrator (Junior Brown), the General Lee, the Boar's Nest bar and the familiar flavor of the TV show, fans of the original should be prepared for a few changes. Writer John O'Brien and director Jay Chandrasekhar inject more raunchiness and bad language than they could ever use on TV, which earns The Dukes of Hazzard a PG-13 rating. It's a hard PG-13 mostly because of the drug humor and sexual innuendos, so you want to keep the kids at home. The Dukes of Hazzard is a fun weekend diversion, and make sure you stick around for the bloopers shown over the closing credits. You get to see what happens to the cars when stunts go wrong, which is just as much fun as the rest of the movie. 2 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4) Copyright 2005 - WaffleMovies.com
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