Reviewed by Neil Davey
Stars John Travolta, Tim Allen, William H Macey,
Martin Lawrence, Marisa Tomei, Ray Liotta
Written by Brad Copeland
Produced by Brian Robbins
Certification US PG-13 | UK 12A | Australia M
Runtime 100 minutes
Directed by Walt Becker
Wild Hogs is one of those films that, should you want to, you could rip into. It’s trite, it’s predictable — a five-year old who’s never seen a film before could pretty much guess the ending — and what humour there is generally revolves around slapstick interspersed with general homophobia. But for all that, it’s so eager to please that taking the mickey would be like slapping a baby koala. You could do it but why would you? Better then to disengage brain — and we’re talking complete, bordering-on-coma disengagement — and just sit back and have a bit of a laugh.
The story is basically City Slickers with motorcycles instead of horses and one extra mid-life crisis. Middle aged friends Woody (John Travolta), Doug (Tim Allen), Bobby (Martin Lawrence) and Dudley (William H Macy) are at a crossroads. They used to be kings of the world… and then life — and age — happened. These days, their only youthful pleasures come when they get on their Harleys and cruise the wild streets of Cincinatti as weekend bike gang the ‘Wild Hogs’. But, with assorted mid-life crises looming, they need more. So they decide to leave their lives behind for a week and ride from Cincinnati to the Pacific Coast. And some of them have even told their wives they’re doing it.
En route they get mistaken for comedy homosexuals by comedy homosexual policeman (Scrubs star John C. McGinley), fall off their bikes, get hit by insects, etc. Then they meet real bike gang the Del Fuegos — led by Ray Liotta’s psychopathic Hell’s Angel — accidentally blow up their bar and then help a small town fight these bullying bad guys. And in the process, learn something about themselves / each other / life: delete as applicable. But hey, you probably guessed that because, even being charitable, this is hackneyed stuff. However, it is at least amusing hackneyed material in these hands and its heart is in the right place.
It’s particularly encouraging to see Tim Allen raise laughs again. After the horrors of The Shaggy Dog and the ever-declining quality of The Santa Claus franchise, you’d be forgiven for thinking someone senior at Disney had compromising photos of the man. While Wild Hogs isn’t on a par with the first few seasons of Home Improvement — seriously, watch a rerun, they’re still damn funny — it’s a decent step back for Allen. So yes, it’s a load of rubbish. But it’s watchable rubbish that raises more than a few smiles.