Slammin' Salmon/ I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell/ Nine Dead/ Old Dogs

127. The Slammin' Salmon
128. I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
129. Nine Dead
130. Old Dogs


The Slammin' Salmon is the 5th movie from the Broken Lizard comedy troupe.

This movie takes place over the course of a single night at former boxing champ Cleon Salmon's restaurant. Salmon has lost a bet and needs $20,000 to cover his losses. Therefore, he needs his staff to have their biggest sales night ever in order to bail him out. Unfortunately for him, the staff is a bit on the shaky side. There's not much that I can really say about this movie without potentially spoiling some of the gags so I'm going to try to tread carefully.

To this reviewer, this is probably Broken Lizard's best movie to date. I've loved most of their other movies but this one just had me hysterical with laughter at times. In terms of story, there's not much that hasn't been done before. You've got a bunch of wacky underachievers trying to met an impossible goal. You've also got most of the restaurant themes covered as well. It's just the way that these guys do it that makes it work so well. The leads are the five Broken Lizard regulars. They're all solid, as always. I enjoy how they vary their "types" from movie to movie. It helps keep things fresh. Support comes from Michael Clarke Duncan, Cobie Smulders, Will Forte, Olivia Munn and Vivica Fox.

Overall, this movie is truly hilarious and well worth watching. I highly recommend it.


I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell is loosely based on the 2006 novel by Tucker Max.

It tells the story of three friends. Tucker, Dan and Drew. Dan is getting married and Tucker is in charge of the bachelor party. Things don't quite go according to plan and friendships get pushed to the limit.

Honestly, this is a pretty bad movie. Very few laughs considering that it's supposed to be a comedy. The character of Tucker is so unlikeable that you actually want to see harm befall him early and often. He's an obnoxious, fratboy douchebag. The story is just a series of events that only serve to further cement Tucker's status. The cast is lead by Matt Czuchry as Tucker with Jesse Bradford and Geoff Stults as Drew and Dan. Support (and eye candy) is provided by Keri Lynn Pratt and Marika Dominczyk.

I'm not sure how much of Tucker Max is just schtick but he can't possibly be as bad as he comes across here. If he were, surely someone would have stabbed or bludgeoned him to death by this point.

Overall, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell is just a terrible movie and really is just not worth watching.


Nine Dead is the directorial debut of Chris Shadley.

It tells the story of 9 people kidnapped by a mysterious masked man. They're handcuffed to the wall in what appears to be a room in a warehouse. The masked man comes out and tells them that they need to figure out why they've been brought there or he will kill one of them every 10 minutes. Will they be able to figure out the unknown bond that they share before it's too late?

When I popped this into the dvd player, I wasn't expecting very much. It turned out to be quite the pleasant surprise. On the surface, it seems pretty similar to Saw. Whereas Saw focused on the horrific, this sticks mainly to trying to solve the mystery. I found myself getting sucked in quickly once the action started. The story wasn't that intriguing but I was just hooked right in.

In terms of casting, we've got Melissa Joan Hart as our biggest name. In terms of the rest of the cast, we've got a lot of folks you've never heard of before. Sure, they've been in some familiar movies but I'm skeptical that they'd be recognizable so they'll get no credit from me here. Haha on them. The only other big name here is Daniel Baldwin. However, his role is basically a cameo that leads absolutely nowhere. I was a bit surprised by that, honestly. I was kind of figuring that the filmmakers would use him a bit.

All in all, Nine Dead was a pleasant surprise. I wouldn't suggest that you run right out and buy it but it is worth a rental at least. Plus, you can get it from Redbox for just a buck a night.


Old Dogs is the latest from director Walt Becker, of Van Wilder and Wild Hogs fame.

Charlie and Dan are lifelong buddies and partners in a sports marketing company. Charlie is the womanizer, the wild and crazy one. Dan is the straight laced one who wouldn't know a good time if it landed on his lap. After Dan's divorce, Charlie convinces him to go away on a tropical vacation. While down there, Dan goes a little nuts and winds up involved in all types of drunken shenanigans. 7 years after this "Guys Gone Wild" night, the woman that Dan met resurfaces to tell him that he's the father of 7 year old twins. AND...they're going to have to live with him for a couple of weeks, as she has something to attend to.

This movie is just chock-full of cliches. It's pretty corny and also rather predictable. However, the cast manages to make it pretty enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, this isn't high art by any stretch of the imagination. It's a total guilty pleasure movie. John Travolta and Robin Williams are Charlie and Dan. Both are good, like they usually are. The supporting cast is pretty large and talented as well. It includes Kelly Preston, Seth Green, Lori Loughlin, the late Bernie Mac, Matt Dillon, Rita Wilson, Amy Sedaris, Justin Long, Matt Dillon, Dax Shepard and Luis Guzman. A few of those are basically cameos but it's still cool seeing so many familiar faces in one place.

One interesting bit of trivia about this one is that it was originally to be rated R and released by Touchstone Pictures. After some heavy cuts and years of delays, they got it down to PG and labeled it as a Disney flick. I would definitely be interested in seeing this in its original incarnation.

Overall, Old Dogs is a guilty pleasure flick. It's not going to win any awards but it'll make you laugh and keep you entertained for 90 minutes.