On DVD: Strange Wilderness

Directed By: Fred Wolf           

Starring: Steve Zahn, Ernest Borgnine, Jonah Hill,Kevin Heffernan, Joe Don Baker, Ashley Scott, Justin Long, Allen

Ever wonder what happened to Steve Zahn? I found him, he was hiding out with Ernest Borgnine.

Strange Wilderness will be released on DVD on May 20, 2008 by Paramount Home Video.

The Movie

Peter Gaulke, played by Steve Zahn, the son of the famous and universally loved and respected host of the wildlife show Strange Wilderness is trying to hold the show together after the passing of his father. Unfortunately Peter has neither the knowledge, expertise, temperament, or judgment of his father. The show has been relegated to the 3 AM time slot and can't even hold it's own there. Things come to a head in a meeting with the network where Peter and his crew are informed that in two weeks, their show is going to be canceled. Peter and his not so lovable crew are brainstorming trying to come up with an idea that will save the show when Bill Calhoun played by the magnificent Joe Don Baker, an old buddy of his father's, shows up with a map to Bigfoot's secret cave. It appears Strange Wilderness is saved but, Sky Pierson the host of Strange Wilderness's competition has offered Bill a thousand bucks for the map and Bill needs the cash. Peter manages to convince Bill to give them a week to come up with the cash. So, Peter and company recruit a few new members and they are off to retrieve the map and capture the first footage of Bigfoot and save the show.

The movie is really a series of skits hung on the plot points, but it works. The individual skits are funny and they are convincingly stitched together. The humor is crude but I found myself laughing throughout. One set piece involving a turkey was completely over the top, but as it wore on, I found myself laughing at it despite myself. The cast work great together, Zahn and Allen Covert, a long time side kick of Adam Sandlers, form the heart of the team playing as straight (in a comedic sense, not the other sense) a straight man your going to get in this movie with Justin Long, the “mac” guy, and Kevin Heffernan, the Broken Lizard guy, and Ashley Scott sort of bouncing around the periphery depending on the nature of the gag. They form this band of losers who you are never quite sympathetic to, so you don't mind laughing at them when things aren't going there way. They do sort of grow on you and by the end of the movie; they have graduated to sympathetic losers.

Upping the sillines factor, the story moves from somewhere in LA, to Mexico on into Ecuador, of course it was shot entirely within Los Angeles County. So, you get the same exterior shots you grew to love in M.A.S.H., Dukes of Hazard and Airwolf. It's almost a study in how to make Southern California look sorta like anywhere. David Hennings the Director of Photography makes an effort to make the movie look better than it really needed to be.

Segments of the Strange Wilderness show are used to cut from scene to scene at times. They feature grainy stock 16mm wildlife footage with inane close to surreal voice over commentary from Peter. I found myself wanting to see a whole episode. That would have been a really cool extra, but you can't get everything.

6.5/10

The Video

The movie is presented in wide screen format and it looks great. The image is nice and sharp the colors pop but aren't over saturated. I couldn't find any aliasing or blooming and never noticed any other artifacts. The stock animal footage isn't is sharp as the rest of the video of course but it's got that great grainy oversaturated 16mm (or is it 8mm, anyway it looks great) look to it.

8/10

The Audio

The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 in English and Spanish with subtitles in English, French and Spanish. The mix is good the surround sound noticeable but not overpowering. The dialog is always clear and understandable. I never found myself having to ride the volume up or down.

8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The DVD is packaged in the standard DVD case with simple but attractive and effective artwork. There are a fair amount of extras; including deleted scenes, some interviews with the actors, a little spot about one of the special effects and some trailers for other Paramount releases.

7/10

I wonder what happened to this movie. I don't even remember it being released. None of the actors are really big names, but their not people you've never heard of either. The humor is pretty crude, but that's not usually an impediment. Whatever, I really enjoyed it and recommend it if your a fan of low-brow humor. Plus I can't think of another movie that has Joe Don Baker and Ernest Borgnine in it.

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

The Review

The Movie 7/10

The Video 8/10

The Audio 8/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features 7/10

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

-Mike Young