Rating: 
Summary: Thanks for breaking glass where my kids play
Review: "The call of the wild, the thrill of adventure. The mistake of a lifetime."
Well, after watching this movie, you feel like you got a few chuckles, but there was a whole lot of potential that was not taken advantage of. Then when you look at who directed the movie, Steven Brill (Heavy Weights, Little Nicky, and Mr. Deeds), I may have seen why. Now I am a big fan of Brill's work on Mr. Deeds, I never say Heavy Weights, but Little Nicky also left me with that same feeling of misused potential. Sandler in Little Nicky had a chance to have a Waterboy type performance, and it was wasted worse then Trovolta in Battlefield Earth.
Back to Without a Paddle. I really saw this movie because I am a big fan of Seth Green, and will watch his movies because even if it turns out to be a movie I dislike, I usually end up liking his character; perfect example, Knock around Guys. Anyways, his performance in this movie was done well, and again, I found his character very funny, and enjoyed his performance once again.
Mathew Williard (Scream, Scooby Doo, Thir13en Ghosts) does a very good job in this movie also. You can tell that despite the type of movie this is (the genre) he took the role very seriously. To be honest, his character did not provide to many funny aspects to this movie at all. That was pretty much left almost entirely to Green and Shepard. That does not mean Williard did not add to the movie, as his character seemed to be the glue that held the friendships together.
Dax Shepard (Punk'd, Cheaper by the Dozen) delivers a very strong performance also. His lies, crude remarks, sick little jokes, develops a character everyone knows (very similar to Bluto from Animal House) and reminds everyone of someone they knew growing up. Shepard plays the carefree, jump in head first with reckless abandonment, act before you think character.
Even Burt Reynolds character was good, and kind of funny. So the whole review I have given this movie almost nothing but praise, it doesn't even lack depth. Nevertheless, when the movie is over, you still have that, "well, that could have been better, but it was ok," feeling.
Grade: C
Rating: 
Summary: Unworthy of even a pity viewing
Review: Alternate title: "Three whitebread clowns with zero comedic acumen and no charisma go up the river". Guillotine the three protagonists, keep Burt Reynolds and the bad sheriff, rewrite the script around them and you'd have a three star picture.
Rating:
Summary: 3 1/2 Stars....
Review: I heard only great things about this movie. Yet, when I saw it I was not laughing my butt off. I thought some parts were funny but over-all not the best movie I have seen.
Four best friends were going to go and hunt treasure and one of the four dies so the other three decide to go and hunt for a treasure to continue the lost ones life. On the trip they run into many different types of people and animals. From a man who lived in the woods forever, to girls who are protecting a redwood to pot growers...but the humor that is meant to be in each scene is not there. I wasn't feeling it. It seemed forced and it was not the best I have seen from Green or Lillard. I personally would say rent this movie don't buy it. It is more of a one time movie.
Rating: 
Summary: cheap laughs, some deleted scenes should have been kept
Review: I rented this movie off of a reccomendation that this movie would be funnier than Anchorman and Dodgeball both of which i haven't yet seen. I thought this movie focused way too much on the 2 stupid guys chasing them, and the maudlin of the 3 friends just talking amonst themselves about the death of a fellow friend.
There were funny parts, and there were very bad formulatic jokes. and the overall drug part was dumb. I hate it when they bring drugs into a movie as something funny, I hate drugs. they are the abomination of this world. and just seeing htem onscreen makes me angry and ruins the movie from there on.
the funniest parts of the whole movie was ina deleted scene which they cut, it was the parking space part, where this crazy guy just acts crazy to Seth green. it was hilarious.
This movie had the actors to be really great but most of the movies plot was really stupid.
Rating:
Summary: Thanks for breaking glass where my kids play.
Review: I was very surprised by this film. It was not this exceptionally funny film that will be remembered forever, nor was it this pre-teen comedy that prided itself on sexual humor and bathroom jokes, but instead a solid comedy about friends and their tribulations in the forest. The comedy in this film was strong, providing some very funny moments and some humorous lines provided by actors that seemed genuinely interested in making this film. There seemed to be a strong connection between our three actors as they played off each other exceptionally well. What really impressed me about this film was not just the sporadic comedy that was top-notch when applied well, but also the story. You don't see stories like this as often as you would like. The 80s were classic for bringing a group of actors together to fight the elements of nature, but lately it seems that sex and drugs sell stronger. While there was plenty of this in Without a Paddle, it wasn't the major theme. The powers of friendship, the influences that it has on your life, and the effects of maturity when in a hostile environment were all major elements to this film. It was like The Great Outdoors meets The Goonies created in 2004. This is not a bad little combination that, despite the enormous pitfalls in the story line, played quite decent.
The actors in this film were not comedy genius', but the did know how to make you laugh and that worked for me. Seth Green was the standout performer in this film as his character provided some of the wittiest lines as well as hysterical physical humor throughout the film. Green did a fantastic job with Mott, giving him not only several layers, but also this genuine feel of friendship. That is what impressed me the most with Seth Green, Matthew Lillard, and Dax Shepard, they seemed genuine in their delivery. Nothing seemed forced or to controlling with these guys. Their ability to deliver some very funny lines while trying to keep a jigsaw puzzle of a story together was a great accomplishment. Without the incredibly perfect casting in this film, I do believe it would not have worked. Green's delivery, Lillard's emotion, and Shepard's physical humor embodied the core elements of comedy for this film. They each carried Without a Paddle on their shoulders and with pride. Also, I have to give credit to the supporting cast as well. Burt Reynolds did a great job as the little guy that helps this band of yuppies to their final destination, as well as Ethan Suplee and Abraham Benrubi who were perfectly cast as the rednecks of the woods. While Deliverance was a running gag throughout the film, I thought that these actors created something unique and worthwhile on their own. The recreated a dying genre of wooded comedy and while they did not create perfection, they did a great job trying.
Sadly, the actors couldn't do everything. The gaping plot holes created by Fred Wolf and Harris Goldberg were devastating. It literally ripped this film to shreds. The ability to get from point A to point B seemed to be a challenge for the writers of this film. While they were able to pull it off in the end, you could tell that they were having some trouble. There just seemed to be too many "What the ..." combined with "Whosa what..." to make the story stand on its own. With the help of MTV, they were able to cover some up by using songs from the 80s to divert us into a new direction. For me, it just didn't cut it. The ending was laughable, and not in the comedy sense, but in the "the writers had to wrap this up quickly" sense. This was my biggest problem with this film was the story. It felt as if there was too much ground to cover and not enough time to do so. Maybe it was the final editing, but you finished this film feeling like you missed a big chunk of the action.
Overall, this was a decent little movie that had me laughing at some parts while waiting for others to end. Seth Green fans will be highly impressed with his role in this film and definitely show that he needs to continue to get more work to improve this great gift. The comedy delivered by the actors is a great blend of 80s humor without the sex and drug jokes. I felt I wasn't being demeaned or my intelligence squandered on this film, but instead it kind of made me think of my youth and friends. The story was, in all honesty, horrible. I don't think the writers had a good grip on this film and therefore it suffered. For those interested in seeing this film, I think the acting is worth checking out, but the story could have been tweaked a couple more times. Not bad, but very far from perfection.
Grade: *** out of *****
Rating: 
Summary: Don't read if you don't like knowing what happens/Loved it!!
Review: I went to see this movie thinking it was going to be funny. I was right! This movie had me laughing all the way through, from the bear attack to the weed farm to the Earth-child tree house, this movie lived up to my expectations and then some.
When their friend Billy dies on one of his many adventures, Jerry, Tom, and Dan go back to Oregon and encounter their old tree house with all their childhood memorabilia. They find a box with relics they put in that was not supposed to be removed until they found DB Cooper's treasure. Supposedly he parachuted into the woods with a bunch of stolen cash but was never seen since. Billy had even marked out the trip on a map and had wanted to go with the guys on a camping trip the previous summer, but none of them could make it. Tom was detained in Mexico. So, to honor their friend, and despite Dan's "I'm Dr. Mott now!" objection, the three decide to follow Billy's map and finally search for DB's treasure.
The trip starts out with a pit stop in a very run-down town. Using Dan's satellite cell phone, Jerry runs into some trouble with his girlfriend, who is tired of waiting for him to settle down. Once they barely escape from a shariff with no teeth, it's off into the woods to christen a red canoe, much to a Native American's dismay. "Thanks for breaking glass where my kids play." Smoothe, Jerry, whose response was, "...oh."
When they finally land for the night, things go fine until Tom decides he wants to fish by "flashing them". Dan bets $1000 and his left, well, anyway, he bets he can't do it. The first fish Jerry and Dan forget to catch out of stupidity, but the second was out of fear of the bear that Tom doesn't notice until Jerry starts taking off his shoes.
"You can't outrun that bear."
"I don't have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you." Dan trips while running and Tom suggests the fetile position. The bear then takes him for a cub and carries him off. "ABORT THE FETILE POSITION!" Hey, how many chances do you have to try freshly caught...what was it? A raccoon? Well, that night was spent in a tree and Dan's brand new cell phone becomes a tasty snack.
The next day the bear is scared off by explosion sounds and the trio sees a boat with two ugly rednecks in it throwing grenades into the water. Dan wants to cut through the woods and start out on the other side. When they do, they miss the fork and end up on the wrong side of it. Although Tom made himself out to be a Class-45 river rafter, they don't have much luck and end up sailing over a 100-foot waterfall. Now they don't have a canoe or a map, which the bear had clawed through anyway.
They set off into the woods and come across civilization and Creed wafting through the air. However, when they get close enough, they find the same two rednecks they were trying to avoid earlier talking to beheaded fish. They hide in their shed which is stuffed with packages of grade-A marijuana. One wrong move and dogs Lynyrd and Skynyrd are on their tail. So after setting off the flares that light up the entire marijuana field, which ultimately sets the field on FIRE, Tom, Jerry, and Dano take off. Half-way through, everyone is completely stoned. They manage to escape, though. So...onward into the woods.
Earth-child. No, not just any old hippie. A tree. The soaked guys, after swearing they aren't from the logging company, "If you're from the logging company you'll have to speak to our lawyers!", are allowed to come up and meet Flower and Butterfly. Slug (Jerry) and Condor (Dano) are immediately embraced (what was Tom called again?) and they discover just how "natural" the two girls really are. They try to radio for help, but the signal is intercepted by the rednecks who are after them. When they try to cut down Earth-child, Tom, Dano, and Jerry make a run for it in nothing but their underwear. (Butterfly and Flower were drying their clothes off, in case you were wondering.) Even though flying bags of, well, (what would you use the "little tree's room" for?) are thrown on their heads, the rednecks don't give up on Earth-child until Tom rides off with one of their wheelies and ends up driving it off a cliff. Surviving the drop, Tom, Jerry, and Dano escape into the woods again, and this time, Dano finally gets a kiss farewell. (Flower is the hairy woman of his dreams!)
Now it's dark and cold. Dano is tired and they're in front of a cave. Once you hear the lyrics, "My mind's telling me no, but my body...my body's tellin me yes", you know it's going to go a little crazy. Hey, it's cold! And as Tom said, "This never leaves the cave." After Jabba leaves his hut because Jerry can't keep his exotic thoughts in his head (poor Dano, it's not his fault), the scary mountain man Del Knox shows up and leads them back to his cabin.
He doesn't kill them, but he does tell them that he was DB Cooper's best friend. He spent 30 years up in those mountains. He couldn't leave. The next morning comes along. Dano wakes up.
Dano: Mmm...bacon.
Del: Squirrel.
Dano: Mmm...squirrel.
The rednecks can't read for anything, but they can track, and sure enough, after Jerry finds the eaten cell phone (does a bear -poop- in the woods?), they catch up to them. Del takes care of them temporarily so Tom, Jerry, and Dano can escape.
The compass isn't working. The iron in the mines is throwing it off. Revelation! If it's throwing their compass off, it must've thrown DB Cooper's compass off! Next thing they know, they've fallen through a mine shaft. And...da da da DA...there they come face-to-face with none other than DB Cooper himself...well, what's left of him. After burning his treasure to stay alive for a few more hours, he froze to death. Their mission complete, they get their relics back (a C3PO collectible, a rookie card, and a rubber -good going Tom-) and decide to place it with DB Cooper and his treasure. Then the rednecks show up...again. Dano slipped through a hole in the shaft to freedom with the help of singing a "Culture Club" song. He then knocks the two trouble-makers into the hole with Jerry and Tom. A fight ensues. Dano picks up a grenade that was dropped. The same sheriff from town shows up. Problem solved, right? WRONG!
The rednecks work for the sheriff and all guns are pointed at Jerry, Tom, and Dano. Once Jerry is given possession of the grenade, he gives the three thugs a choice:
Jerry: I've decided my life's worth living. And if you decide that your lives are worth living (actual dialogue may vary), you'll put your guns down.
Sheriff: And if we don't?
Jerry: (pulls grenade) Bye-bye, boys.
The grenade hits a tree and the three thugs are caught under it. Back in town (not the run-down town but Jerry, Tom, and Dano's hometown) the thugs are arrested and Del gives the guys a little surprise: DB's parachute. He has DB's bones in his backpack and plans to see the world.
Del: Maybe even Washington.
Jerry:...wow...one state.
Inside the parachute is Del's share of the treasure: $100,000 I think it was. Jerry doesn't want it. Dano doesn't want it. (Hell, he's "Dr. Mott" now!) so Tom, who isn't the Harley salesman he claimed to be, uses it to pay off his debts.
In the end:
Jerry asks his girlfriend to marry him and she says yes.
Dano and Flower share an intimate moment in Earth-child.
Tom confuses a bunch of boyscouts at a camp fire.
The movie ends leaving you with only one burning question:
"What's a 'downstairs'?"
Enough said.
Rating:
Summary: Who Would Have Guessed?
Review: Look, I walked into this movie expecting a complete bomb, and I was being more than generous at the time. Having never heard of it before, this "action-comedy starring that guy from Scooby-Doo and Dr. Evil's son" seemed less than appealing to me. But once the film started rolling, I was amazed at how hilarious it was. It is a story about four childhood friends who are now in their late 20's. One of them dies and the other three set out on a childhood journey to find the treasure of DB, a man who was lost during a parachute-jump and never returned. On their journey they encounter many obstacles, including a bear, two pot-farmers, tree-hugging hippies and many other hilarities. Although the acting is not top-notch, the comedy is worth the ticket, it is so saturated with jokes that I'm sure that I missed a good third of them.
Rating: 
Summary: THE BEAR DOES S**** IN THE WOODS!
Review: Thanks to the expert timing and performances from WITHOUT A PADDLE's three young stars, this movie transcends its pedestrian and derivative script and becomes a movie I found extremely fun to watch. Seth Green, Matthew Lillard and Dax Shepard bring a sense of familiarity and companionship, and even though their characters aren't as fleshed out as I would have liked, they still maintained their own individual quirks and qualities, and they all seemed to be having a good time. Ditto to Burt Reynolds as a crusty old recluse whose true identity may turn out surprising. Add Ethan Suplee and Abraham Benrudi as the redneck marijuana farmers and you have the ingredients for a generally funny and interesting movie. The "buddy" aspect is the movie's saving grace, as you can believe these guys like each other a lot and their quest for the DB Cooper fortune is merely an instrument to bring them to the realization of where they are in their lives.
You get some great 80s songs too, but warning: Boy George is on the menu! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. But enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: LILLARD CANT COMMIT SETHS TIMID SHEPARD ISNT SCARED
Review: This movie looks great-I've watched the trailer like 8 0r 10 times or something like that!I'll for sure go see this at the theatre-since my idol Seth Green is in it! All the guys in this movie are hott-especially Dax Shepard! Yummy! Hey look a deer! growl! Everything we've been through Im finally running out of things to be afraid of!
Rating:
Summary: A Pleasant Surprise
Review: Well, I had this movie for quite some time, but I never watched it, because I just thought it would suck. But then, few days ago I didn't know what to do, so I watched it. And what happened, I totally liked it. Ok, there maybe some jokes, which are really out, but still the whole movie is really ok.
It's a story about three college friends, who meet again in 10 years on another friends funeral. When these four guys were kids, they were dreaming to go on a D.B. Cooper's treasure hunt. So now, 10 years later, when they're more or less successful adults, they decide to go on a trip, to honor their friend. So, on their trip down the river, they're attacked by a bear. They get lost and destroy their boat. Then, after walking around the woods, they encounter two ganja farmers, who then chase them with guns. And they, by mistake, burn down their whole crop. They finally run away from them and find two 'tree loving women'. Then, those two guys chase them again. They're saved by D.B.'s friend and later they even find D.B. On the end they help arrest the two bad guys and go on with their life, which is happier because of this experience.
It's a good movie. It's worth watching it.
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