Wild Hogs

This movie is made up of gay jokes galore, mindless motorcycle gags, an unconvincing “bully” gang that never offers up anything fun, original or humorous, and last but not least, ZERO heart to go along with its ho-hum story. I got the gist of it early on; these four guys needed to get away, spend some time separate from family and just enjoy the freedom of the road, but it would have helped if we had some indication that these four guys were REAL friends, as it seemed like an odd group overall, one in which we only get little glimpses into their true problems, and besides some high fives and fist pumps along the way, there is very little indication that these four guys really are great friends, as they are all so different and odd that the whole thing seems a bit off. So, for me….there just wasn’t a whole lot of reason to care. Other than that, the story is pretty basic from start to finish and includes the basic plot points that move the story along till the knee-slapping, feel good ending in which everything is nicely tied together. You have the family life waiting at home, a bully gang looking to cause our main characters some grief, countless silly scenarios in which our heroes learn valuable lessons about themselves, and even a throw away love interest that was both ridiculous and left hanging. The jokes also are made up of characters crashing into things and being embarrassed in gay situations, like swimming naked while a passing family with kids comes to take a dip. Why these attempts at humor were the basis for the laughter in this movie is besides me, but as you can tell at this point in my review, they didn’t work!

The actors also were ok here. Travolta I felt was a bit annoying as the over the top, worried friend. Allen was his usual self from every other movie he has made, so nothing new there. Macy was a goofball who I found hard to care for, as he seemed out of place. Lawrence was pretty basic, as the script called for him to be, but I suppose he had a line or two I found amusing, and it was nice to see him do something with a broader appeal than his typical family fare busts!

Overall I can’t say I laughed all that much, I found nothing to be original or satisfying about the story, and the characters didn’t fit in well enough for me to care about them. This is a movie aimed at the older crowd who like good natured comedies without the R-rating. It will work for a certain group of people I suppose, as Travolta and Allen especially still have that appeal, but for me there was nothing special about Wild Hogs. Silly, uninvolving, little heart and no laughs. I can’t recommend that to anyone!