“Strange Wilderness”

Rating: 6/10

Starring:

Steve Zahn, Allen Covert, Jonah Hill, Justin Long

Plot:

To save his animal show from being canceled, Peter (Zahn) and his crew of misfits embark on a journey to find and film Bigfoot.

The Good:

The cast of “Strange Wilderness” is the film’s greatest strength. They’re a who’s-who of supporting comedic players – from Kevin Heffernan (“Super Troopers”) to Jonah Hill (“Superbad”) — trying to one-up each other.

Since this is a Happy Madison production, Adam Sandler’s usual gang of regulars turn up, but the true scene stealer is Justin Long, whose character pulls one bizarre stunt after another. Besides stealing nitrous oxide from a dentist and wearing a wedding dress, he also gets tattoos of eyeballs on his eyelids so that when he’s asleep, it looks like he’s awake.

“Strange Wilderness” is filled with constant drug use, excessive profanity and plenty of full frontal male nudity to go around. If that’s not your cup of tea, there are also shark attacks, insane Vietnam vets and a scene with a turkey that will make you want to cancel Thanksgiving.

The Bad:

For as many laugh-out-loud moments there are – and there are a lot – the film suffers from a terrible case of shoddy writing and story development.

Sure, it’s a movie with a core audience that probably prefers “High Times” to “The New Yorker,” but even the most stoned viewer will feel cheated by the lame and abrupt ending. For an hour and a half, the film builds to the highly anticipated climax with Bigfoot but, after a sophomoric series of events, all interest is lost.

There are also more plot holes in this movie than the complete works of David Lynch combined. The geniuses behind “Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star” treat the audience as ignorant and forgetful, hoping that comedic schtick outweighs a disastrous story.

It also looks as if, when filming of “Strange Wilderness” was complete, the filmmakers had barely enough footage to last an hour. So, to fill the void, animal clips from what seems like 1973 are used throughout with narrations that lose steam too quickly.

The Lowdown:

If you enjoyed the criminally underrated “Grandma’s Boy,” or any other gross-out comedy of the last five years, you will surely be amused by “Strange Wilderness.” If not for Steve Zahn finally becoming a leading man and not a sidekick, see it for the mindless and immature humor that thankfully doesn’t involve Dane Cook.