THE STORY: The Broken Lizard comedy group returns to the big screen in a new comedy that proves revenge, like beer, is best served cold.
When American brothers Todd and Jan Wolfhouse (Erik Stolhanske and Paul Soter) are sent to Germany on a mission to spread their grandfather’s ashes at Oktoberfest, they stumble upon a super-secret, centuries-old, underground beer games competition-Beerfest-the Olympics of beer drinking. At Beerfest, the brothers receive a less than warm welcome from their German cousins, the Von Wolfhausens, who shun Todd and Jan, slander their heritage, and worst of all, drink them under the table.
Vowing to return in a year to defend their family honor, the Wolfhouse boys assemble a ragtag dream team of beer drinkers and gamers: Barry Badrinath (Jay Chandrasekhar), a consummate skills player with a dark past; Phil Krundle (Kevin Heffernan) AKA “Landfill,” the one-man chugging machine; and Charlie “Fink” Finklestein (Steve Lemme), the lab tech with a Masters degree in All Things Beer. With the inspiration of their Great Gam Gam (Cloris Leachman) and the support of her caretaker, Cherry (Mo’Nique), this “Magnificent Five” train relentlessly, using their hearts, minds and livers to drink faster, smarter and harder than they ever have before.
THE REVIEW: There is an audience for everything—and we all know there are a lot of fans of Beer. The comedy group Broken Lizard who have produced movies such as Super Troopers—a minor success—and Club Dread—a complete train wreck. Broken Lizard are as good at making funny films as they are making a mess of a movie and Beerfest falls somewhere in the latter.
Broken Lizard understands the regular guy and what they want; beer, sports, and boobs. They took that formula, slapped it together and out came Beerfest. What Broken Lizard doesn’t understand is how to make a movie that is funny from beginning to end. I remember being a kid and having a beer advertisement poster in my room about their Oktoberfest full of beautiful woman and wondering what must have happened at that part. Let’s just say my imagination was a lot better than this movie.
FRANKLY: Broken Lizard doesn’t try to make a smart comedy. Beerfest doesn’t pretend to be anything other than an idiotic movie about beer, boobs, and morons. The mistake that Broken Lizard made was in believing the beer drinking, boob loving audience will be filled with nothing but morons. Beerfest isn’t funny or worth watching.
+ Charlie Craine
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