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Without a Paddle

5 Ratings: 3.6

A movie

To honor a childhood oath, three friends (Seth Green fromAustin PowersandParty Monster, Matthew Lillard fromSLC PunkandScooby Doo, and newcomer Dax Shepard) head into the Oregon wilderness in search of lost treasure. After grappling with … see full wiki

Tags: Movies, Comedy Movies

Cast: Ethan Suplee, Burt Reynolds, Matthew Lillard, Abraham Benrubi, Bart the Bear, Seth Green, see all

Director: Steven Brill

Genre: Comedy

Release Date: August 20, 2004

MPAA Rating: PG-13

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An Enjoyable, Though Crude Comedy.

Jan 24, 2007

by tomtom13
posted in Movie Hype

Rating:

Three friends; Tom (Dax Shepard), Jerry (Matthew Lillard), and Dan (Seth Green), come together after the death of one of their closest childhood friends, Billy. Billy had been obsessed with uncovering nearly $200,000 that famed highjacker D.B. Cooper (an actual real life criminal) supposedly hid somewhere in the wood of Oregon. Partly out of adventure and partly as a final farewell gesture to Billy, the three young men leave for a multi-day canoeing trip down the Colombia River to see if they can find the object (the money) of Billy's obsession. The river turns out to be the least of the men's worries as they encounter one strange encounter after another: illegal DELIVERANCE-type pot farmers, an angry sheriff, giant black bears, environment-loving tree-living women, and one expert woodsman who looks an awful lot like Burt Reynolds.

When I first watched WITHOUT A PADDLE, I didn't think I was going to like it. I like Matthew Lillard and Seth Green, but wasn't a big fan of Dax Shepard. The plot didn't sound all that good to me and I was concerned with some of the content warnings. Surprisingly, WITHOUT A PADDLE wasn't too bad of a movie. Yes, there is pot smoking done for comic affect. Yes, there is sexual innuendo. Yes, there are a lot of crude jokes. And yes, once the movie gets started much of it is nonsensical and seems like something out of a Benny Hill sketch or a Monty Python movie. But, I actually enjoyed the movie. It made me laugh and after I finished it I realized that I had a good time.

Some of this might be due to the set up of the film. The introductory backstory about the characters and their friendship growing up does a wonderful job making the audience care about the characters and setting up the rest of the picture. When the movie turns into a Bizzaro World version of STAND BY ME, things don't seem as insane as they should. The pacing of the movie also helps. There are times the film could drag, but it never does. The characters have a purpose and they will fulfill that purpose even if it kills them. Once the boys leave for their trip it's one exciting and often humorous event after another.

WITHOUT A PADDLE isn't a movie for children, which is a shame. If some of the content would have been toned down a bit, it would have been a movie that most family members could enjoy. Nevertheless, it is a good movie that teenagers on up can enjoy if they just give it a chance.

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