The Dukes of Hazzard

Dukes of Hazzard

Sigh, ah, yes the 80s. It was a time of simple politics and simple Presidents. During this time of bad simple fashion and simple yuppie wealth, there were simple TV shows for the simple Regan Era population. Shows like A-Team, Knightrider and Duke of Hazzard were for people that just wanted to plunk down on the crappy couches and watch something easy and…simple. The Duke of Hazzard (now DOH, because I am tired of typing it out) was one of these so called living cartoon shows that came on primetime TV. Growing up in the 80s, I was one of these kids that actually watched the show every week. Hell, I even got some of the hot wheels models from the show.

Fast-forward to the 90s, as we started to leave the 80s behind, many people started to outgrow the dumb TV of the period before and started getting into more gritty on edge programming. DOH and A-Team quickly faded from our collective minds (thank goodness). It was as if people were coming out of a really bad hang-over and realized they just banged the ugly chick at the party lat night. (Crap, what was I thinking.). If you look back at the 80s and watch the shows that were on the air at the time in the present, you’ll find most of them well…sucked. DOH was one these shows. If the show had one thing, it was charm, nothing more.

Fast-forward to the 00s (What the F’ do we call this decade, someone tell me?) we are in a more complicated world where everything isn’t as black and white as we dreamed or hoped. Yet, we still have a simple-minded president (you figure that one out). We yearn for that simple warm and fuzzy time in the 80s, so Hollywood decides to bring back many shows and movies as remakes. This year has seen more remakes than I’ve ever encountered.

DOH movie is an extremely flawed movie with some gems in the lumps of crap. The plot is so simple and mindless, it reminds me of one of it’s stars, Jessica Simpson. The movie is too dumb to follow it’s own main plot so it bounces around, like Jessica’s bre…I’m not going there.

There are some good jokes in the film; such as the way they handle the confederation battle flag on the car. It was nice that the film recognizes this and makes fun of it. The Duke boys go to Atlanta with the flag on their car, and some people don’t like it.

Overall, the film is not as bad as the critics claim it to be. It has it’s moments, but it’s not that good either. Make up your own mind.

Grade C-

Things to look for

~ Johnny Knoxville plays Luke Duke, but he’s just playing Knoxville with a southern accent. He’s not very good in this film.

~ Seann William Scott plays Bo Duke, and he’s just playing another version of Stifler, but he’s better than Knoxville.

~Jessica Simpson just plays herself, and then again there isn’t much to Daisy Duke anyway.

~The car chases are pretty good, and the best one is the one in Atlanta. It reminded me of the car chase in the Blues Brothers on the streets of Chicago.

~Uncle Jesse smokes weed in this movie.