Strange Wilderness (2008)

Director: Fred Wolf

Cast: Steve Zahn as Peter, Allen Covert as Fred, Jonah Hill as Cooker, Kevin Heffernan as Whitaker, Ashley Scott as Cheryl, Peter Dante as Danny Gutierrez, Harry Hamlin as Sky Pierson, Robert Patrick as Gus Hayden, Joe Don Baker as Bill Calhoun, Blake Clark as Dick, Justin Long as Junior, Jeff Garlin as Ed Lawson, Ernest Borgnine as Milas, Jake Abel as Conservationist, Kevin Alejandro as Hispanic Man #1

One of the reasons why I decided to watch this, is because I needed a
comedy to laugh at, if it's not possible to laugh together with it. The
DVD is already available at the shops, but I don't think I'm ready to
fork out a Code 1 DVD price for what's essentially a short comedic film
which is based from a Saturday Night Life comedy skit. Written by the
same creative team of Peter Gaulke and Fred Wolf with the latter taking
on directorial duties as well, Strange Wilderness delivered some
genuine laughs, but only if you're tolerant of being insensitive to the
kind of subject the film makes fun of.

Strange Wilderness is a long running wildlife programme which is now
succeeded by Peter (Steve Zahn), the host of the show, whose father had
made the programme into one of the best loved prime time shows. Under
Peter's leadership, ratings have plummeted, and needless to say even
their 3am timeslot is in danger of being canceled. In a last minute
desperation for survival, he and his crew have to look for a new way to
ensure their programme continues, and dropped at their laps is the
opportunity to follow up on a solid lead to the whereabouts of Bigfoot.

Eseentially this movie is one big road trip that tells of the crew's
journey to documentary history, with the likes of soundman and
co-collaborator Fred (Allen Covert), Cooker (Jonah Hill), the only
female in the team Cheryl (Ashley Scott), and cameraman Junior (Justin
Long), amongst others. And throughout the movie, we see each and
everyone of them getting into enough funny scenarios that made this
film look like many pieces of skits being glued together, with laughs
coming courtesy of sexual innuendos (you just got to hand it to the
turkey), sight gags, slapstick and just plain buffoony. In fact, I even
suspect that everyone in the cast were on a high as they shot this, as
dialogues were laced quite incoherently with plenty of ad-libbing,
especially Justin Long, though of course if he's really acting, then
kudos to him for being stoned all the time.

While giving no respect to wildlife, the funniest moments were reserved
for their voice overs of Nature, and it's really quite incredible
should anything like it be actually aired for television. They are
intentionally full of factual errors, lapse into unnecessary judgmental
and slanted viewpoints, but always just plain ridiculously funny.
Perhaps I was in crap mode, but the humor here doesn't apologize for
any offence made, since after all, the subject matter can't fight back
anyway. I know I'm shallow if I say I really couldn't get enough of the
film poking fun at the physical features/defects repeatedly. There is
no plot in the movie, besides everyone being perpetually broke as they
try and scrimp or come out with more hare-brained ideas to fund their
movie and fuel the laughs.

So the bottomline is, don't expect any genius from Strange Wilderness,
but if you're in for some low-brow humor, then this movie might just be
the perfect laughing medicine for anyone wanting to chase the blues
away, without any medicinal assistance.