Trouble in Paradise
Anticipating the upcoming Scooby Doo 2, Broken Lizard's Club Dread plays like an R-rated version of the old Hanna Barbara cartoon with sex, drugs and rock-and-roll substituted for the annoying dog. And, like the old cartoon show, the mystery is kind of lame, the jokes are tried-and-true, and the whole atmosphere is just amiable enough to put a smile, albeit a weak one, on your face.
The action takes place at Coconut Pete's Pleasure Island, a remote island paradise off the coast of Costa Rica. It's an anything goes, booze drenched resort where everyone, including the appealingly attractive and off-beat employees, are out to have a ripping good time. That is until a masked maniac begins offing said employees with a rather large machete. What follows is the attempt by the employees, which include tennis pro Putnam (director Jay Chandrasekhar), ladies-man dive master Juan (Steve Lemme), DJ and local drug connection Dave (Paul Soter), mystic masseur Lars (Kevin Hefferman) and fitness instructor Jenny (Brittany Daniel), to uncover the killer's identity by deciphering the lyrics of one of Coconut Pete (Bill Paxton)'s incomprehensible songs. Since these lunkheads are in a comedy, their efforts are less than successful, leading to a rather amusing showdown with the unstoppable killer, who makes hockey mask-wearing Jason Voorhees look like an amateur.
Club Dread's non-offensive jokes veer toward the gross-out and sexual and are only mildly amusing. Part of the movie's problem isn't that the concept isn't funny, but that it doesn't have the edge that would have made it an out-and-out spoof or satire of the slasher genre. There isn't that knowing self-awareness that the kids in Scream had or even the over-the-top idiocy of the Scary Movie flicks. By channeling Scooby Doo more than Hannibal Lecter, the Broken Lizard folks have left us with something more cute than thrilling. The cast, though, makes the ride enjoyable. Paxton is suitably grizzled and booze-soaked as Coconut Pete, while Hefferman and Daniel have a nice chemistry together. A running joke between the two with Hefferman's Lars touching sexual pressure points in Daniel's face is amusing. And the romance between lothario Juan and guest Penelope (rhymes with cantaloupe) (Jordan Ladd) is kind of sweet in a twisted sort of way. The rest of the cast, made up mainly of Broken Lizard members, is also good and obviously had fun making this trifle.
Though Club Dread isn't a gut buster, the script by Broken Lizard is actually fairly well constructed and, from a thriller standpoint, the mystery, though kind of stupid (which is the point), works, introducing elements in the beginning that play into the climax (for instance, Lars' pressure point techniques). And that is both the movie's strength and weakness—it's too serious to be a full-on comedy and too silly to be a thriller. What we're left with is a sort of a weird hybrid.
However, until something funnier comes along, Club Dread is an amusing way to spend time on a Saturday afternoon.
The action takes place at Coconut Pete's Pleasure Island, a remote island paradise off the coast of Costa Rica. It's an anything goes, booze drenched resort where everyone, including the appealingly attractive and off-beat employees, are out to have a ripping good time. That is until a masked maniac begins offing said employees with a rather large machete. What follows is the attempt by the employees, which include tennis pro Putnam (director Jay Chandrasekhar), ladies-man dive master Juan (Steve Lemme), DJ and local drug connection Dave (Paul Soter), mystic masseur Lars (Kevin Hefferman) and fitness instructor Jenny (Brittany Daniel), to uncover the killer's identity by deciphering the lyrics of one of Coconut Pete (Bill Paxton)'s incomprehensible songs. Since these lunkheads are in a comedy, their efforts are less than successful, leading to a rather amusing showdown with the unstoppable killer, who makes hockey mask-wearing Jason Voorhees look like an amateur.
Club Dread's non-offensive jokes veer toward the gross-out and sexual and are only mildly amusing. Part of the movie's problem isn't that the concept isn't funny, but that it doesn't have the edge that would have made it an out-and-out spoof or satire of the slasher genre. There isn't that knowing self-awareness that the kids in Scream had or even the over-the-top idiocy of the Scary Movie flicks. By channeling Scooby Doo more than Hannibal Lecter, the Broken Lizard folks have left us with something more cute than thrilling. The cast, though, makes the ride enjoyable. Paxton is suitably grizzled and booze-soaked as Coconut Pete, while Hefferman and Daniel have a nice chemistry together. A running joke between the two with Hefferman's Lars touching sexual pressure points in Daniel's face is amusing. And the romance between lothario Juan and guest Penelope (rhymes with cantaloupe) (Jordan Ladd) is kind of sweet in a twisted sort of way. The rest of the cast, made up mainly of Broken Lizard members, is also good and obviously had fun making this trifle.
Though Club Dread isn't a gut buster, the script by Broken Lizard is actually fairly well constructed and, from a thriller standpoint, the mystery, though kind of stupid (which is the point), works, introducing elements in the beginning that play into the climax (for instance, Lars' pressure point techniques). And that is both the movie's strength and weakness—it's too serious to be a full-on comedy and too silly to be a thriller. What we're left with is a sort of a weird hybrid.
However, until something funnier comes along, Club Dread is an amusing way to spend time on a Saturday afternoon.
