Film: The boys are back in town

Starsky & Hutch

By Tammy McMahan

Sure, you could take in some highbrow French flick, but only Starsky & Hutch offers an odd couple that rolls with a '70s-era baller, takes on a Pacer-driving, would-be assassin, romances the foxy ladies and careens around town in a Coca-Cola can on wheels. Director Todd Phillips' spoof of the ABC cop drama certainly won't broaden intellectual horizons, but that's not the aim. He's going for cinematic silliness that's guilty pleasure.

In the 1975-79 series, Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) was swaggering and reckless and Hutch (David Soul) was humble and disciplined. Here, David Starsky (Ben Stiller) is an uptight, by-the-book police officer who lives in the shadow of his mother, a revered, deceased cop. Starsky's release comes in the form of automotive acrobatics in his beloved Ford Gran Torino. After botching several investigations, Starsky is partnered with Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson (Owen Wilson), a slacker who habitually bends the rules. The mismatched pair go after Bay City cocaine kingpin Vince Vaughn, with the help of neighborhood don Huggy Bear (Snoop Dogg), a lovelorn jailbird (Will Ferrell) and two fetching cheerleaders (Amy Smart and Carmen Electra).

Stiller and Wilson don't stretch themselves as actors--Stiller's Starsky combines his neurotic Reuben Feffer (Along Came Polly) and Mr. Rage (Mystery Men) and Wilson does yet another variation on the theme of "casually cool, surfer dude-like rogue." Nonetheless, their cinematic personas enliven otherwise generic buddy cop roles. Likewise, the supporting players aren't going for Oscars, but they're hilarious--Snoop Dogg's Olive Oyl body in full pimp regalia, Ferrell's lust for dragons and the handsome cops and Vaughn's campy villain fretting about his daughter's Bat Mitzvah.

It's not exactly your daddy's "Starsky & Hutch." But this imperfect, unconventional take on that beloved '70s show provide pure escapist entertainment.