I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell Review

There’s been a nagging trend in comedies since, oh around the time Kevin Smith and Clerks came onto the scene. For good measure, let’s also throw in the Farrelly Brothers and their cultclassic Dumb & Dumber. Maybe not those specific films, but somehwere around that time or a couple years earlier, comedies decided they needed the over-confident idiot character who would always get his chums into trouble. He’s accompanied by stubborn jackass, who doesn’t want to be there as well as bumbling idiot do-gooder, who usually has something hanging in the balance. Either of these characters can be annoying as all sin, just so long as one of them is. The laughs in these films usually consist of pure out shock toilet humor, involving a character doing something completely outrageous and out of the ordinary. Tucker Max seems to have lived some pretty outrageous times in his life, and has chronicled them in both this film and the book of the same name. Too bad I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell has terrible execution.

It’s a fair to compare this movie to the biggest comedy of the year in The Hangover. Both are about bachelor parties, both have a wedding hanging in the balance for one of the characters, and both have their characters getting into craziest of crazy situations. The Hangover may or may not be as realistic in terms of what happens, but it sure feels more relatable and happens to find a plot. I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell plods along from location to location leaving one wondering how the plot has been advanced in any way. The film acts like Brett Favre when he’s trying to make plays, just flinging stuff at the audience hoping it will catch on and they’ll laugh.

And they might, depending on how one feels on Tucker Max as a person. To give the film some credit, Matt Czurchry is pretty good, if at times great, being the self-encompassing character Max is. Czurchry captures the aura of what Tucker Max is about, and is believable with his pitch-perfect, smug smile at getting everyone to go along with his antics. One gets the sense that he never does feel truly horrible about anything he does or puts his buddies through, almost as if Czurchry gets a kick out of Max’s personality.

The rest of the cast doesn’t seem to be as in on the joke as Czurchry is. Geoff Stults plays Dan, Tucker’s friend for whom this bachelor party is being thrown. Stults doesn’t project off any personality other than whiny, but it’s a shame he’s nothing close to believable at it. His better half Kristy, portrayed by Keri Lynn Pratt, is slightly serviceable when she’s being bitchy, but drops it worse than Limas Sweed when it comes to everything else. As annoying as Jesse Bradford’s Drew is and continues to be throughout the film, his story with Marika Dominczyk works, largely because Mrs. Scott Foley is the best actress in the film in addition to being the easiest on the eyes.

At the end of the day though, the bulk of the blame needs to be placed on director Bob Gosse. While Max and Nils Parker’s script isn’t high art, it is something that could have been worked into an enjoyable comedy. Gosse doesn’t have the timing to deliver the jokes at the proper time, and buries the story deep underneath as he zips to the next punchline. He’s also horrid and pacing the film, with the gags and jokes taking way too long to reach their point. There doesn’t need to be a distinct visual flair to the picture, just decent storytelling. Gosse doesn’t bring that, and all but personifies the ‘point and shoot’ mentality. Gosse’s work here gives the impression he graduated from the Brett Ratner Institute of Destroying Cinema, which is far from a good thing.

It’s tough to say if I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell’s intentions were pure, but likely not considering the antics Max gets into and how he projects himself. The film wants to be a great comedy but is too concerned with shock rather than letting the laughs flow naturally. In the hands of a better director Max and company could have had something they could be proud of, but as it stands the film is lifeless and a chore to sit through. But again, if people dig the personality of Max, more than likely they’ll dig the picture. Too bad I couldn’t.

4 out of 10