When Bad Movies Attack

Hello there and welcome to another exciting episode of When Bad Movies Attack. I’m your host, Nigel Sadjoke. Today we will be exploring the lackluster natural habitat of Strange Wilderness. Although produced by Happy Madison, Adam Sandler is no where to be found. Now in some pockets of the Happy Madison world, this would be good news. Unfortunately Sandler’s humor is apparent, that is where we actually see humor in the film. Now we’ll just take a closer peek at the creature we call Strange Wilderness.

One of the first things you’ll notice about Strange Wilderness is the mild attempt at bringing together a truly comedic cast and then getting the cast that they can afford. Perhaps that’s a bit too harsh, our main character Peter Gaulke (Steve Zahn) is worth a little bit more than your average actor. Now before I go on and on about the acting (which for the sake of this nature program I will not), I have to say that it’s not really bad acting but more like a bunch of guys got together and though their improv was funnier than the script. Although I get the feeling that is the case, it’s no excuse for immediately going to the raunchy or druggy humor. Everyone is stoned, we get it. In terms of the casting itself, take Adam Sandler away from any of his films and you get the basic cast of this film. However, there are two additions that may make this beast a bit more tamable. Junior (Justin Long) and Cheryl (Ashley Scott) play the two new additions to the Sandleresque cast. You know Justin Long, the Get a Mac guy. He’s the Mac. In Strange Wilderness he’s the Mac on drugs. He’s actually quite charming and has some of the funniest moments in the film, including showing off his new eye tattoos, of eyes, on his eye lids. It works much better with the visuals. Ashley Scott on the other hand annoyed me, mainly because she plays the hot bimbo that becomes one of the guys yet she’s not that hot and at that point it appears that she’s just trying to hard.

Aside from the acting, the plot and story are a bit out there but believable. At least believable for a film that’s not really all that believable in the first place. Look, the story is secondary to the humor, plain and simple. Peter’s dad was a famous nature host and now he is trying to follow in his father’s footsteps but he’s horrible and so now he’s on the holy grail of adventures to save the show. He then finds the holy grail, kills it, but it doesn’t really matter because the ending is just the point at which the director and cast give up trying to do anything. That’s right, it’s like Shakespeare deciding that Romeo and Juliet just never see each other again because if the play goes that long then Will won’t get his good ole drink on soon enough.

There’s not much more to say I’m afraid. Strange Wilderness was a diversion for about the length of the film. I’m sure I will forget most of it by the time I finish writing this review. I really want to tell you not to bother with this, but it may be worth it just to see Justin Long in an early role. Aside from that, Strange Wilderness should be put out of its misery.

So who is Ashley Scott? Take a gander.