Starring Steve Zahn, Allen Covert, Jonah Hill, Kevin Heffernan, Ashley Scott
Written By: Fred Wolf, Peter Gaulke
Directed By: Fred Wolf
Studio: Paramount
Buy on Amazon.com link

Happy Madison has made a lot of dumb comedy movies in the past like Grandma’s Boy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Benchwarmers, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo and now you can add Strange Wilderness to the group. Actually, almost every movie they have made as been mediocre in my mind. While the movie had a few funny moments, Strange Wilderness had the potential to be a hilarious comedy. It just fell short for me.

The movie is about Peter Gaulke, son of a famous wild animal TV show host. Peter isn’t a good animal expert or a TV show host like his Father. His show Strange Wilderness’ airs at 3am and can’t even beat out infomercials. The network is giving Peter and his friend Fred 2 weeks to come up with something special or the show is over. Peter gets a tip that Bigfoot is in Ecuador; so Peter ensembles his team of stoners, idiots and alcoholics and heads down to the Andes. Along the way, they have to go up against wild turkeys, gang members, seals, sharks, piranhas, crazy trackers, and another team that’s trying to find Bigfoot.

This movie had the right elements to be a funny movie but it fell short for me. The cast choices were good but a lot of them didn’t provide much laughter. You would think with people like Jonah Hill, Justin Long, Kevin Heffernan and Steve Zahn; you’d have a gem of a comedy movie on your hands. Steve Zahn had some funny moments like the turkey scene and the voiceovers, but I expected more from the rest of the cast. Perhaps it wasn’t the acting that was the problem, but perhaps the writing & direction? A lot of the jokes fell flat and the setups were predictable. The nature video voiceovers were really funny though, not really believable but funny nonetheless. I’m not sure why any of these actors appeared in this movie because it wasn’t that great. Maybe they lost a bet or owed someone a favor?

The special features were sub-par but they did offer a few things to watch after the film (if you actually liked it). There are deleted scenes, and a few other featurettes that are about 5 minutes long. Strange Wilderness might be funnier if you were smoking weed all day and like really, really dumb movies. I like dumb movies but this one just wasn’t that funny. There were a few moments but other than that, I say skip this one.

Features:
– Deleted Scenes
– Cooker’s Song
– The Turkey
– What Do We Do?
– Reel Comedy: Strange Wilderness

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
SPANISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC

Video:
Widescreen 2.35:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Subtitles:
English, Spanish, French

Favorite Scenes: The turkey scene, scenes with Ashley Scott in it (for obvious reasons).
Rating: R
Running Time: 87 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: