The Name Says It All
Written: May 14 '07 (Updated May 14 '07)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: lighthearted humor, endearing characters, some surprising moments
Cons: a low-octane copy of better films, with tinges of racism unnoticed by its redneck fan-base
The Bottom Line: This is a regional treat, like the last film by Larry the Cable Guy. If you fit the target demographic, go. If not, run the other way.
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| bilavideo's Full Review: Delta Farce |
The moment I looked up and saw Larry the F--ing Cable Guy, I wanted to throttle my daughter for dragging me to Delta Farce, a half-baked ripoff of Stripes crossed with a half-baked ripoff of Three Amigos. I'm not a redneck - though I admire southern trademarks like honesty, bravery, decency and self-deprecating humor. "Git-r-done" doesn't do much for me, except make me want to hit the showers and scrub off all that filth. Yet, once I reconciled myself with my situation - 90 minutes of corn-pone country jokes - I found it possible to have a good time. There are redeemable moments in this derivative sitcom crap. Those moments are based on better films, but still, when surrounded by palpable darkness, one instinctively gropes for the light.
Larry (Larry the Cable Guy) is a trailer-park loser whose state-guard unit - composed of himself, hen-pecked Bill (Bill Engvall) and nutty Everett (DJ Squalls) - gets called up to fight in Iraq. As happened in Stripes, these guys come under the sadistic attention of a drill sergeant - Sgt. Kilgore (Keith David) - who is determined to take them from the rear guard of the rear guard to the forward line. But when their transport plane encounters turbulence, these "three amigos" end up parachuting into Mexico - along with Sgt. Kilgore who is temporarily incapacitated in the drop, leaving his unit - like that in Stripes - without a leader, a direction or any reason not to become a mean, green, fighting machine.
Except for the fact that they're in Mexico.
One of the film's running gags is the fact that these boys are so stupid, they don't know they're in Mexico. When they come upon a couple of Mexicans, they mistake them for Iraqis and nearly blow them away on the spot (Everett takes a shot at their burro). These Mexicans, in turn, come from the village of Miranda - which must be right nextdoor to Santo Poco, the tiny little village in Three Amigos. Both are terrorized by a Mexican bandit and both are stuck in the Mexico of the imagination.
With all due respect to Larry's mafia of redneck Three Stooges, I liked this movie better when it was helmed by Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short. I particularly enjoyed El Guapo (Alfonso Arau), the narcissistic idiot version of Pancho Villa. But there's something charming, if not hilarious, about Carlos Santana (Danny Trejo), a nightmarishly hilarious update of the El Guapo bad guy. If Alfonso Arau was quietly menacing - and quietly dull - Trejo is openly menacing and openly dull. There's a great running gag involving a "Mexican stand-off" between Santana and the boys, one in which Santana keeps forgetting the ultimate response to "You can't kill all of us."
Part of selling this "I wish I were Burt Reynolds" redneck circus is getting the audience to like the three idiots at its center. For lovers of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, that's easy; this film is pre-sold to them. For the rest of America, it's an odd little misfire. While I have little interest in that type of humor, I have to say I found these characters endearing enough - even in copycat form - to entertain.
While I don't recommend this film to those who don't regularly dine on boiled peanuts and pork rinds, it has its moments. Even some of its biggest misfires are capable of redemption. For example, the choice of a black man, as the drill sergeant bent on screwing over our favorite rednecks, is deeply disturbing. Any film involving redneck heroes should be careful about making a black man (its only black man) its early villain. That's just wrong on so many levels. But Keith David is so talented, even in dreck like this, that it's impossible to write-off his performance. As he did in 1990's Men at Work, David adds a level of intensity - and absurdity - to the role that sells it, despite its obvious problems.
As for the idea of invading Mexico, that schtick didn't work when Michael Moore invaded Canada (Canadian Bacon). Given the tensions on both sides of the Arizona border, it's even more cringeworthy here.
P.S. This is the screenwriting debut of co-writers, Bear Aderhold and Tom Sullivan. I can't wait to see what other films they steal from in their next big adventure. Ironically, director C.B. Harding - whose credits include The Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie and "The Ron White Show" - directed a 2003 TV show highlighting three stand-ups: Carlos Mencia, Pablo Francisco and Freddy Soto. It was called "The Three Amigos."
P.S. II - It probably goes without saying, but you should definitely turn off your brain while watching this film. For example, it helps if you don't ask yourself how a transport plane, on its way to Iraq, would ever fly over Mexican airspace. It also helps not to ask, in a world where undocumented workers have cell-phones, why the village, itself, has no phones - or what it is they're supposedly farming in the middle of the desert. Northern Mexico, which is the only part of the country that is characterized by desert, is littered with souvenir shops and maquiladoras, factories that assemble industrial components and ship them back across the border. The town of Miranda is so far behind the times, it helps explain why some rednecks are still fighting the Civil War.
P.S. III - While this film's script is practically phoned-in, it's impossible to hate Larry the Cable Guy, who presents himself as odd and backwards but ever so lovable. I didn't quite buy the film's attraction, between Larry and a Mexican beauty, but I definitely found Larry likable.
Recommended:
No
Movie Mood: Guy Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Plot
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Epinions.com ID:
bilavideo
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Member: Bill Kilpatrick
Location: The geographic center of the theater.
Reviews written: 711
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