Slammin' Salmon

I have had an ongoing debate with some of my friends for several years mostly about how I can actually enjoy a movie that is almost universally panned. Perhaps some of it has to do with growing up in the late fifties and early sixties. This was the golden age of what is now referred to as grind house cinema; movies mad for no other reason than give some kids something to watch some afternoon or evening. Not every film ids created with award season in mind. Some flicks just want to have fun and as long as the film makers up front and honest about their intensions you should be okay with just sitting back open for a little light entertainment. This can apply to any genre but the one with the greatest propensity for this phenomenon is the comedy. Life is difficult and just making it through a week can be an arduous ordeal so turning to a silly movie is just a way to let go of adult responsibility and go back to that kid in the old theater out for a few laughs. There is a comedy troupe that has become fairly well known for the production of puerile ‘R’ rated comedies. The Broken Lizard Comedy Troupe has created a strangely compelling offbeat comedy style that will not fail to illicit a few laughs no matter how hard you try to hold them back. Their flicks have the ability to pull you back in time to that kid on the playground who was always ready with a gross, disgusting joke. We all had someone like that in our past but in the case of the odd individuals comprising Broken Lizard they just became chronologically adults and were fortunate enough to make a career out of their childhood amusement. Their latest opus, ‘Slammin' Salmon’ has been released by Starz/Anchor Bay and like its predecessors is good for a couple of hour’s relief from reality.

Broken Lizards consists of five members; Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske. In true ensemble fashion the directing, writing and performing assignments are rotated giving their films a touch of that improvisational feel to it, they typically include several well established archetypes including the Stoner, the by the book buy and the rakish devil-may-care fellow. Their humor is almost entirely based on situational comedy with little if any concern for character development. After all, if you were in the mood for such cinematic elements as plot consistency, character arcs and plausibility you wouldn’t have this disc in you DVD player. They have been together since their time at Colgate University in 1990. As foolish and juvenile as their humor may be you have to give the credit for being a well honed and expertly practiced group. After all these years together they certainly have working as a group down to an art form. Just beneath the surface of this asinine production there is a method to their madness and there is no denying it works. This is not the type of film crafted to achieve critical acclaim. It is for the fan base of the Broken Lizards and it seems they are a sizeable contingent.

In this variation on their theme the action is set in a upscale Miami restaurant,’ The Slammin' Salmon’ owned by former heavyweight boxing champ Cleon "Slammin’" Salmon (Michael Clarke Duncan). Not only has he taken a few too many hits to the head while boxing but he started off as not the brightest bulb around. Some of his malapropisms will have you scratching you head in bewilderment. The champ is a larger than life figure intimidating everyone around him. When he loses a bet to the Japanese Mob he has to come up with $20,000 by the end of the night. he informs the cowardly manager of the restaurant, Carl (Nat Faxon), that he better make sure the waiters pull in that amount or else. Carl presents it to the motley crew of a staff as a contest initially with a weekend at a spa for the prize. When that fails to push them hard enough the champ ups it to $10,000 oblivious of the fact of how that would diminish the night’s take. As he explains he’s into beating up people not numbers. In line with that the one in last place gets a beat down from the champ. This initiates an all out competition to push the most expensive dishes and obtain the largest possible tips. Each one of them has their own way of achieving this goal. Mia (April Bowlby) is a beautiful blond training for the ballet. She flirts and cajoles her way especially with the male customers. Guy (Erik Stolhanske) is a fake tanned, self adsorb narcissist with a great distain not only for his co-workers but the patrons as well. Tara (
Cobie Smulders) is a second year pre-med student just trying to get through school and then there is the strangest of the lot a waiter called ‘Nuts’ (Jay Chandrasekhar). When he is one his psychotropic medication he’s fairly normal but if he skips his meds his alternate persona, Zongo, comes out and there are no words to accurately describe the insanity.

To be honest any film from the warped and twisted minds of the Broken Lizards is a bit of an acquired taste. If you are into them this is one of the better of the lot. One thing to look out for are the many cameo appearances ranging from Saturday Night Lives’ will Forte to the ‘Attack of the Show’s queen of the techno geek, Olivia Munn. Even Sendhil Ramamurthy from ‘Heroes’ makes a showing.

Posted 04/20/2010