Beerfest

Starring: Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Jurgen Prochnow, Cloris Leachman,
Directed by: Jay Chandrasekhar
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
2006

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A group of Americans find themselves in a top-secret beer drinking competition, where they lose embarrassingly. They return home ashamed, and driven to return to Beerfest and represent their country, beating the reigning-champion Germans.

Review:

Tim: I was actually slightly excited about this movie. I really enjoyed Super Troopers, and I was looking forward to what the Broken Lizard troupe would do in what appeared to be a return to form. What we have here is actually more complex than you would expect. On one hand, it is a really funny movie that incorporates a plethora of beer jokes into an interesting tale about Americans taking on the rest of the world in an absurd, this-would-kill-you-in-real-life beer drinking tournament. There are some hilarious jokes, and despite the better part of ourselves, its hard not to get caught up with patriotic feelings as you genuinely want the Americans to defeat the arrogant Germans. On the other hand, there are some juvenile, ridiculous, and completely unfunny moments which are put in purely for shock value. These are not funny by any means, and only work against the film.

The Broken Lizard guys all work well together, and it's fun to see them again on the big screen. They genuinely look like they have fun together, and this allows the audience to have fun as well. Everything is much larger than life, however, which sometimes works to the film's advantage, and sometimes against it.

Beerfest is certainly geared toward the typical fraternity guys, or at least people who can still fondly recall nights of drinking far, far too much. Some of the humor is so awful, but there are some legitimately funny scenes as well. In the end, Beerfest will undoubtedly fill you up, but you have to wonder about the nutritional value of what you just consumed.


Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Super Troopers, Club Dred