Beerfest
Review
by Clare Bath
Think Something About Mary meets Animal House with the plot of just about any sports movie ever made, add some hops and barley and you’ve got yourself Beerfest. Burp. Burp. Burp. Hoorah!
This uninhibited no-holds-barred comedy does
anything - and everything - for a laugh. Watching Gam Gam (octogenarian
academy award winner Cloris Leachman) manhandle a German sausage in the
traditional way is worth the price of admission alone. Don’t know
if Nana agreed.
American brothers Todd and Jan Wolfhouse (Erik
Stolhanske and Paul Soter) stumble into an underground Olympic beer
drinking competition only to be humiliated and beaten by the German
team. They return home, vowing to beat the Germans at next year’s
Beerfest. They put together a hilarious team of loser underdogs (Jay
Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, and Steve Lemme) and, well, from there
on it pretty much follows the storyline of, um, Rocky 4
- but instead of punching pugilists, they’re pounding pilsners.
No opportunity was missed for a parody, toilet humor or ostensibly
gratuitous boobage (there’s $7 of entertainment just there).
The only thing more outrageous than the story is
the story behind the story. In 2002, the comedy troupe Broken Lizard,
while touring to promote Super Troopers
found themselves challenging a bunch of locals to a drink-off in an
Australian beer tent. After being humiliated and beaten by the Aussies,
they return home vowing to create a movie based on the experience,
which, in some strange way makes Beerfest almost a documentary.
This is a hilarious, silly, bawdy guy flick that
comes complete with a “Don’t do this at home or you will
die” warning at the beginning. Take your buddy, or your dad, or
your parole officer, but probably a good idea to leave the kids and
non-tattooed women at home for this one.
A keg of laughs!
4 out
of 5
Beerfest
Australian release: 28th
September, 2006
Cast: Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Steve Lemme, Kevin Heffernan, Jay Chandrasekhar
Director: Jay Chandrasekhar
Website: Click
here.
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