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brucewood -> 'Hazzard Line' Do Not Cross (13/2/2006 8:30:46 PM)
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Empire are spot-on.
It's been a long time since I saw the original Dukes, but like many males of my generation I hold the series with some affection. Not just the obvious hormonal appeal of the delectable Catherine Bach but the easy going joi de vive of John Schneider, Tom Wopat, Denver Pyle, et al and, of course The General Lee. The series was as mad as a fish and essential viewing on a Saturday evening.
As a rule I am not enamoured of TV show remakes/re-imaginings but I am a fan of dumb Hollywood gloss and as such am willing to give most things a go. Jessica Simpson as Daisy !??! Johnny Knoxville, well...as anything!??! I really had my doubts, but by the time I managed to catch up with the film on 'Unseen' DVD I was quietly excited.
A simple story revolving around the Dukes stopping the vile Boss Hogg (a wasted Burt Reynolds) from razing Hazzard to the ground in favour of Oil rights is straight out of the original - simple, totally removed from reality and filled with just enough pathos for the good ol' boys to garner a fair amount of whoops from the audience...but the similarities stop dead at this point.
The biggest selling point of the original Dukes was their simple, charm and the leads had this in spades. Jay Chandrasekhar seems to think that to produce a DOH for the new Millenium means adding some gratuitous T&A, vandals defacating in the Boy's famous ride and Seann William Scott declaring his coital worship for the aforementioned General Lee.
The stunts are everything you would expect from a current blockbuster, but are often cut in such a way as to ruin the illusion (the Freeway landing is a prime example of this allowing just enough view of the General landing to let the audience know that the car has just been destroyed by the impact before, in classic 80's style, cutting to a 'continuation' shot of the Charger careening away un-scratched).
Seann William Scott and Johnny Knoxville are wide of the mark being far too knowing in their roles and reverting to crudity too readily. Burt Reynolds is criminally wasted in a badly written role that even his persona cannot break free of. Of the main characters the only ones who come out with any dignity are Willie Nelson's Uncle Jessie and, much to my surprise Jessica Simpson's Cousih Daisy who captures her character's short-shorted, wholesome, country sex appeal without fawning to the director's baser instincts.
There are flourishes of great humour to be found (the traffic jam is a hoot, and shows what the two leads are capable of) but these are too few and far between to fill up the gaping maws on self-indulgent crudity.
I am not a prude, and love base humour in the right place. Quite simply the charm inherent in the premise of The Dukes Of Hazzard will never be place for it. Approach with Caution
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