Wild Hogs (DVD)

Occasionally it is nice to go against the grain, but with Wild Hogs it seems like you are standing on the other side of the room with everyone laughing and pointing at you if you liked it. I gave this flick a "B-" review when I saw it in theaters. It was fun, I laughed and enjoyed myself and I stick by that review. I expected my time with the DVD to be equally entertaining, but unfortunately I didn't really feel much at all in regards to this movie on second viewing.

Based on the $168 million Wild Hogs I am sure the majority of you are familiar with the story of four middle aged friends that set out on a road trip in an effort to reclaim their youth, or something to that effect. The four get into a bit of trouble with a biker gang called the Del Fuegos and the whole story culminates in the small town of Madrid.

The cast comprised of John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy is a perfect bunch to play our heroes and Ray Liotta is an excellent baddie on the other side of the highway. Unfortunately it seems all the humor is lost after you have heard it the first time. I will admit that when the four see the name of Madrid and Travolta yells out, "Spain?" it did have me laughing again, but beyond bits and pieces here and there this movie seemed far more tame than I remembered it.

As for the features there is nothing all that mind blowing. The making-of featurette runs at about 16 minutes and doesn't reveal anything major, but considering this is a cross-country comedy what is there really to tell? The deleted scenes and alternate ending are far from intriguing and the outtakes make me simply think that Tim Allen would be a serious pain in the ass to work with. Director Walt Becker and screenwriter Brad Copeland lend their voices to an audio commentary that isn't all that bad considering this is a comedy, but it isn't anything you will be rushing out to tell your friends about. It is shocking to me though that Disney can get an audio commentary on Wild Hogs while Warner Bros. neglected to include one on The Fountain even though Darren Aronofsky wanted to do one. Really odd to me how these studios work sometimes.

Wild Hogs is a fun movie to watch once, which means rent it if you haven't seen it, but buying this one will prove to be a waste of money. After all, it is bound to find its way to cable over and over again.