Beerfest

Review by Jason Gaston

Get drunk, get stupid. That's the basic plot behind Broken Lizard's newest movie, Beerfest. When a couple of American guys go to Germany to take their grandfather's ashes to their family's resting place, they find out about a secret competition called, appropriately enough, Beerfest.

They are beaten resoundingly by the Germans and humiliated and become obsessed with the idea of creating their own Beerfest team to go back to Germany, kick the German's ass at their own game, and bring glory to the United States!

Broken Lizard is a conundrum. Perhaps they peaked with Super Troopers because their two subsequent movies, Club Dread and The Dukes of Hazzard (yes, The Dukes of Hazzard is technically a Broken Lizard movie) have been flat-out horrible. I mean, the kind of horrible you get when you get kicked in the nuts horrible. How does Beerfest rank? Thankfully, it's loads funnier than the lesser two, but not anywhere near as good as Super Troopers. Let's say that Broken Lizard have found themselves a comfortable middle ground with this movie. It's nice, but not destined to become a cult classic or anything like Super Troopers has.

What I did like about this movie is that it's a hard R-rated comedy and, to tell you the truth, we don't get enough of those.

Plus, when this movie gets funny... it's pretty darn funny. It's a stupid juvenile kind of funny, but it is funny.

The part that fails is when it ceases being funny and tries to make something out of the bare bones plot that all of the drinking humor is laid out on like a keel. This kills the movie in a lot of areas and you find yourself wishing silently that they would just shut up and get drunk again.

Beerfest is base entertainment that derives most of its humor from bodily excretions and alcohol. I think with a name like "Beerfest" that's just something you have to expect. Personally, I can't knock it.

I like these guys, Broken Lizard. I like their personalities and I like their sense of humor. Sure, they've drops some pretty smelly turds into my theater, but I forgive them because I know that they will one day achieve greatness again. Beerfest... it's not greatness, but it's a kind of goodness and, for the time being, that's okay. That's okay. I can live with that.