Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector

August 14, 2006

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 89 min Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

I’ll be the first to admit that I purchased and watched the Blue Collar Comedy Tour DVD as soon as it was available. And I’m not ashamed to admit that I loved it. It was freakin’ hi-larious! But when the success of the DVD continued to grow and grow, I was waiting for the inevitable tendancy of Hollywood to pile on and ride any good thing right into the ground. It didn’t take long for more DVDs to appear. Then there was the Blue Collar TV show that aired on Comedy Central. And, finally, there came the low-budget movie-that-should-have-never-been-made. This is that movie.

Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector As a comedy, it’s pretty darn mediocre…and I’m being nice. The script is weak, at best, and they limited the dialog to PG-13 which means Larry couldn’t open up with both barrels. There are some good moments, but the lag time between them is quite long. At least they knew better than to try and get Larry to really act and, instead, just wanted him to be his normal funny self. Somebody should have told them not to hamstring him before setting him loose.

The supporting cast does a respectable job. Megyn Price plays Jane, a meek woman who becomes the love interest for Larry. Iris Bahr turns in a great performance as a less-than-feminine partner for Larry that he mistakenly thinks is a man all through the movie. Being a good straight man is hard to pull off but she does a pretty decent job of it. Thomas Wilson is the cliche’ ridden “boss with a rotten temper” but he does a pretty decent job, all things considered.

None of these talented folks can truly save this movie, though. If not for the fact that Larry is just an ultimately likeable guy, it would have been unwatchable. Thanks to his infectious nature, however, it is possible to sit through the non-funny parts and not be fidgeting or looking at your watch every 5 minutes. Sadly, if thats the best you can say for a movie, it’s only going to be worth 2 stars, at the most.

Posted by Alex | Filed Under 2 Stars, Comedy, DVD, Iris Bahr, Joe Pantoliano, Larry the Cable Guy, Megyn Price, PG-13, Thomas F. Wilson