Beerfest

While undoubtedly a vast improvement over Broken Lizard’s previous effort, Club Dread, Beerfest ultimately suffers from precisely the same sort of problems that have plagued all of their films (ie it’s uneven, overlong, and generally free of guffaws). This time around, the five-man comedy troupe travels to Germany – where they must compete in a secret drinking competition to restore the honor of one of their own. As expected, Beerfest is rife with exceedingly silly gags and over-the-top bits of comedy – yet, as has long-since become clear, there’s not a whole lot here worth embracing for those not tuned into their very specific brand of humor. There is, consequently, no overlooking the egregiously low joke-to-laugh ratio, although it’s hard not to find some value in the ingenious casting of Jürgen Prochnow as the film’s villain (particularly given the inclusion of a clever Das Boot reference). The bloated running time (110 minutes!) certainly doesn’t do the film any favors, as the light-hearted and inoffensive vibe invariably gives way to a far more oppressive atmosphere (ie some of this stuff just becomes flat-out repetitive). The Broken Lizard gang admittedly possesses oodles of potential and it’s entirely likely that they’ll one day craft a hilarious, thigh-slapping comedy, but Beerfest certainly isn’t it.

** out of ****