-It’s refreshing to see a young director confess his love for such a unique decade.

That’s just what happens in “Starsky & Hutch,” the new film by the soon-to-be cult director Todd Phillips.

Phillips has made his comedic mark on Hollywood, making the once impossible possible. Phillips made his Hollywood splash with “Road Trip,” proving that it was possible to make a teen comedy that had style, intelligence, substance and sharp wit. Plus, he figured out a way to put Tom Green into a film — and make us laugh at the same time. I’d argue Phillips should have gotten an Oscar by default for that one.

In “Old School,” Phillips brought the frat-house hijinks of “Animal House” back to life. Phillips has the wit and style, as well as the talent with the pen to put hilarious material into the mouths of growing stars Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn.

And now Vaughn is back in “Starsky & Hutch,” Phillips’ new film based on the 1970s television program of the same name. Vaughn plays the evil villain drug kingpin attempting to sell cocaine that is undetectable to any drug-sniffing dog or security machine. This undetectable cocaine leads to some of the film’s best jokes, which I will not reveal.

Ben Stiller is David Starsky, a play-it-by-the-book cop set out to follow in the footsteps of his dead cop mother. Early in the film, Starsky is punished for firing off rounds in public while on a chase. His punishment? He’s teamed up with Ken Hutchinson (Owen Wilson), or Hutch, Starsky’s polar opposite. Hutch is so laidback that he lets crime just walk on by. Such a man drives Starsky nuts. When Hutch arrives to work late, Starsky lectures him, “Oh, crime called in sick. It’s gonna get a late start, too.”

Later, when the duo discovers a dead body floating in the San Francisco Bay, Starsky begins to investigate, while Hutch begs to send the body out to sea and hope some other precinct finds it. If there is a way to get around doing any work, Hutch would find it.

Fans of Stiller and Wilson know that chemistry could carry virtually any script. While this is no doubt Todd Phillips’ slowest film, it still packs enough laughs to deem it entertaining.

Perhaps the only dreadful part of this film is the performance of rapper Snoop Dogg (Calvin Broadus). Snoop plays Huggy Bear, a street gangster who “knows some people who knows some people who robs some people.” Huggy Bear is a likable, cool character who gets no charm or help from Snoop Dogg. I’m not sure what Snoop Dogg was born to do, but I’m sure acting is not it.

What makes this movie so damn funny is the great one-liners, vanilla/chocolate chemistry of Stiller and Wilson and the quick comedic moments. It’s fun to see a swanky cover band singing a sexed-up rendition of Bad Company’s “I Feel LIke Making Love” at a teenage girl’s bat mitzvah or a My Little Pony getting a few rounds blasted into it.

I wonder if most people older than 40 would appreciate such moments in these films. But for the younger, new movie-going generation, they’re guilty pleasures — and Phillips is becoming the king of them.