The Slammin Salmon
Year: 2010
Director: Kevin Heffernan
Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Stars: Michael Duncan Clark, Kevin Heffernan, Jay Chandrasekhar
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 90 Mins
Film Synopsis
"The Slammin Salmon" is the latest from the comedic troop known as “Broken Lizard”. It’s the troop’s first film in four years. They are the same people that brought you the comedies “Super Troopers” and “Beerfest” to the big screen.
The film is about a former heavyweight champion (Michael Duncan Clark )who has to use his bulling tactics to rule over his staff after finding out that he owes money to the Japanese Yakuza. To get the money to pay for his debt, he sets up a contest to get his wait staff to sell more food than they have before with first place getting $10,000 while the waiter in last place a beating of a lifetime, by the Champ himself.
The staff responds by resorting to backstabbing, bribery, one upping each other and indecent proposals to get the patrons to spend their money. As the hours pass, it becomes more frantic and escalates into a brawl over the $10,000 dollars. The film also co-stars Cobie Smulders (“How I Met Your Mother”), April Bowlby (“Drop Dead Diva,” “Two and a Half Men”), Sendhil Ramamurthy (“Heroes”), Lance Henriksen (Aliens), Olivia Munn (G4 TV) Will Forte (“Saturday Night Live”), Vivica A. Fox (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), and Morgan Fairchild (The Seduction)
Film Review:
“The Slammin Salmon” is by far a much funnier film the troop’s last film, “Beerfest”. Star and first time director, Kevin Heffernan does a very good job making the scenes so funny and fun to watch. His direction was very good, because this was a funny film. One of the things that Heffernan does right, he makes the action in the film, very funny. There were a couple of scenes, where it could’ve gone into the territory of gross out humor that hurt “Beerfest” for the most part. But what Heffernan does is to let the dialogue and actions of these characters become the source of the humor. It makes the film fun to watch, instead of being bored. The other thing that he does right was the way the actors were directed. For a comedy film to work, you need a director to get actors get have interesting quirks to their characters. This film has it, as Heffernan does a good job directing the actors, as they bring personality to their roles especially with Michael Duncan Clark, as he’s very funny and helps makes the film very entertaining to watch.
The screenplay was much better here than in their previous film. One of the things that they did right was to tone down the outrageousness and gross out humor. One of the problems in “Beerfest” was that the humor relied more on gross out gags and it really hurt that film, because none of it was funny. Here, there is more of a balance of humorous dialogue and gross out humor that helps make the situations funny. The troop also does a good job bringing personalities to each of the film’s characters. It helps generate humor, because you find the characters funny and you enjoy what is going on in the film. This is defiantly a huge improvement from their last film.
DVD Extras:
First on the Blu-Ray is the first of two audio commentary tracks with Writer/Actor/Director Kevin Heffernan and Writer/Actor Steve Lemme. The two do a very job explaining the process of the production of the film, from how some of the characters were created to the process of how Heffernan approached each scene.
The next commentary track features the rest of the Broken Lizard gang: Jay Chandrasekhar, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske. The commentary was good for the most part. I liked how they added humor through some of the stories that they shared in the creation of the story and from the set. It a very solid track
After the commentary tracks, there is an eight minute behind the scenes look called, “Hellish Kitchens: Art Imitates Restaurant Life” and the official trailer.
Final Thoughts:
“The Slammin’ Salmon” is return to form for the Broken Lizard troop, as this rank up with “Super Troopers” as the comedic troop’s best film. This is a very funny film with a lot laugh that you’ll enjoy.
Film Review Rating: 4 Stars
DVD Extras: 2 Stars
"The Slammin Salmon" is the latest from the comedic troop known as “Broken Lizard”. It’s the troop’s first film in four years. They are the same people that brought you the comedies “Super Troopers” and “Beerfest” to the big screen.
The film is about a former heavyweight champion (Michael Duncan Clark )who has to use his bulling tactics to rule over his staff after finding out that he owes money to the Japanese Yakuza. To get the money to pay for his debt, he sets up a contest to get his wait staff to sell more food than they have before with first place getting $10,000 while the waiter in last place a beating of a lifetime, by the Champ himself.
The staff responds by resorting to backstabbing, bribery, one upping each other and indecent proposals to get the patrons to spend their money. As the hours pass, it becomes more frantic and escalates into a brawl over the $10,000 dollars. The film also co-stars Cobie Smulders (“How I Met Your Mother”), April Bowlby (“Drop Dead Diva,” “Two and a Half Men”), Sendhil Ramamurthy (“Heroes”), Lance Henriksen (Aliens), Olivia Munn (G4 TV) Will Forte (“Saturday Night Live”), Vivica A. Fox (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), and Morgan Fairchild (The Seduction)
Film Review:
“The Slammin Salmon” is by far a much funnier film the troop’s last film, “Beerfest”. Star and first time director, Kevin Heffernan does a very good job making the scenes so funny and fun to watch. His direction was very good, because this was a funny film. One of the things that Heffernan does right, he makes the action in the film, very funny. There were a couple of scenes, where it could’ve gone into the territory of gross out humor that hurt “Beerfest” for the most part. But what Heffernan does is to let the dialogue and actions of these characters become the source of the humor. It makes the film fun to watch, instead of being bored. The other thing that he does right was the way the actors were directed. For a comedy film to work, you need a director to get actors get have interesting quirks to their characters. This film has it, as Heffernan does a good job directing the actors, as they bring personality to their roles especially with Michael Duncan Clark, as he’s very funny and helps makes the film very entertaining to watch.
The screenplay was much better here than in their previous film. One of the things that they did right was to tone down the outrageousness and gross out humor. One of the problems in “Beerfest” was that the humor relied more on gross out gags and it really hurt that film, because none of it was funny. Here, there is more of a balance of humorous dialogue and gross out humor that helps make the situations funny. The troop also does a good job bringing personalities to each of the film’s characters. It helps generate humor, because you find the characters funny and you enjoy what is going on in the film. This is defiantly a huge improvement from their last film.
DVD Extras:
First on the Blu-Ray is the first of two audio commentary tracks with Writer/Actor/Director Kevin Heffernan and Writer/Actor Steve Lemme. The two do a very job explaining the process of the production of the film, from how some of the characters were created to the process of how Heffernan approached each scene.
The next commentary track features the rest of the Broken Lizard gang: Jay Chandrasekhar, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske. The commentary was good for the most part. I liked how they added humor through some of the stories that they shared in the creation of the story and from the set. It a very solid track
After the commentary tracks, there is an eight minute behind the scenes look called, “Hellish Kitchens: Art Imitates Restaurant Life” and the official trailer.
Final Thoughts:
“The Slammin’ Salmon” is return to form for the Broken Lizard troop, as this rank up with “Super Troopers” as the comedic troop’s best film. This is a very funny film with a lot laugh that you’ll enjoy.
Film Review Rating: 4 Stars
DVD Extras: 2 Stars
