WITHOUT A PADDLE

US, 2004, 95 minutes, Colour.
Matthew Lillard, Seth Green, Dax Shapard.
Directed by Steven Brill.

Well, we all know what waterway were are up when we have no paddle. This is what it is like when we have three adults who still yearn for their younger days and have failed to grow up emotionally – but that makes it sound much too deep for what it is, a raucous male bonding comedy with plenty of sex and excremental jokes. But, be warned, it takes the moral high ground much of the time and preaches about wasting opportunities in our lives and not being authentic. Perhaps that is why it has performed so well at the box-office, a blend of the silly and the profound.

It obviously has memories of Deliverance in mind as our three heroes go out into the wilds of Northwest America on a quest to find the treasure of D.B.Cooper in memory of a dead friend, go out on a kind of City Slickers’ outdoors maturing process, and meet, of all people, Burt Reynold’s as a reclusive mountain man. They also meet a bear who gives new meaning to the saying of what a bear does in the woods – he has to because this activity is in keeping with the name of that creek where you are without a paddle! There are gross hillbillies, a crooked sheriff and some bikini-clad ecological warriors.

You know whether you want to see it or not.

Matthew Lillard is one of the stars, toned down from a lot of his performances, especially in the Scooby Doo films. However, Seth Green is a good actor and a talented comedian who is generally worth watching.