Following up the excellent comedies 'Super Troopers,' 'Beerfest,' and 'Club Dread,' the comedy troupe of Broken Lizard finally returns after a few years' hiatus with 'The Slammin' Salmon.' The story focuses on a restaurant owned by boxing legend Cleon "Slammin'" Salmon (Michael Clarke Duncan of 'The Green Mile' fame). When he loses an expensive bet to the Yakuza, he forces his restaurant's manager Rich (Kevin Heffernan) to make up the losses with a big night at the restaurant. To do this, the staff (including all the usual Broken Lizard cast) is bribed with vacations, money, and Norah Jones tickets. As expected, chaos & hilarity ensue as the crazy crew of waiters and busboys screw up just about everything possible throughout the night.
Before anyone gets into watching 'The Slammin' Salmon,' they should first visit the other Broken Lizard productions to know what they're getting into. 'The Slammin' Salmon,' while not as funny, creative, or perverse, as the troupe's previous films, does have its fair share of comedy. This comes from what seems to be some unusually standard writing from a group that usually creates very wacky situations in their other movies. Like another similar film 'Waiting ' (with Anna Faris and Ryan Reynolds), 'The Slammin' Salmon' hits most of the typical "restaurant" jokes, but never goes as deeply crazy and hilarious as 'Beerfest' or 'Super Troopers.' This was probably the biggest issue the film had. After waiting three years for another Broken Lizard release, I thought this would be just as perversely ridiculous as their past releases, but they seemed to have tamed themselves a bit. The performances made up for the "typical" writing and dialogue with some spot-on comedic performances. Jay Chandrasekhar as Nutz/Zongo was an absolute riot and took the film to a whole new level of funny. No one, however, matched the hilarity of Michael Clarke Duncan as the Slammin' Salmon himself. His over-the-top madness was absolutely the shining element of this film and alone makes it worth watching.
Overall, the film has quite a few laugh-out-loud moments but is consistently entertaining all the way through, with the final act coming out as the highlight of the film. Fans of the other restaurant comedy 'Waiting ' along with Broken Lizard's previous releases should certainly give it a watch.
Final Verdict: 7/10.
-AP3-
Before anyone gets into watching 'The Slammin' Salmon,' they should first visit the other Broken Lizard productions to know what they're getting into. 'The Slammin' Salmon,' while not as funny, creative, or perverse, as the troupe's previous films, does have its fair share of comedy. This comes from what seems to be some unusually standard writing from a group that usually creates very wacky situations in their other movies. Like another similar film 'Waiting ' (with Anna Faris and Ryan Reynolds), 'The Slammin' Salmon' hits most of the typical "restaurant" jokes, but never goes as deeply crazy and hilarious as 'Beerfest' or 'Super Troopers.' This was probably the biggest issue the film had. After waiting three years for another Broken Lizard release, I thought this would be just as perversely ridiculous as their past releases, but they seemed to have tamed themselves a bit. The performances made up for the "typical" writing and dialogue with some spot-on comedic performances. Jay Chandrasekhar as Nutz/Zongo was an absolute riot and took the film to a whole new level of funny. No one, however, matched the hilarity of Michael Clarke Duncan as the Slammin' Salmon himself. His over-the-top madness was absolutely the shining element of this film and alone makes it worth watching.
Overall, the film has quite a few laugh-out-loud moments but is consistently entertaining all the way through, with the final act coming out as the highlight of the film. Fans of the other restaurant comedy 'Waiting ' along with Broken Lizard's previous releases should certainly give it a watch.
Final Verdict: 7/10.
-AP3-