Broken Lizard started life as a sketch comedy group at Colgate University, a location they would later use as the backdrop for Puddle Cruiser, the indie feature that got them noticed at Sundance and paved the way for their breakthrough cult hit, Super Troopers (about a goofy bunch of Vermont state cops who spend most of their time messing with the minds of stoned teenagers).
I’ve never seen Puddle Cruiser, but I imagine it shares the same attributes as the rest of the Lizard oeuvre: a likable ensemble cast working hard (but not too hard) for laughs in a loosely plotted story comprised of cheerfully uneven hit-or-miss vignettes balancing slapstick and mild gross-out humor with clever wordplay and broad (but never mean-spirited) character work.
Troopers is still probably the funniest of the Lizard films (followed by the pretty good Beerfest and the mediocre Club Dread), but their newest feature, The Slammin’ Salmon, may be their most polished and consistently enjoyable work to date. Contained almost entirely within a fancy Miami celebrity restaurant over the course of a single evening, the film plays like a raunchy off-Broadway play with a simple premise: Cleon “Slammin’” Salmon (Michael Clarke Duncan), the ex-heavyweight owner of the establishment, owes a debt to the Yakuza, and so he more or less forces his waitstaff into a competition: whoever hustles the most food and booze in one night wins an (ever-evolving) grand prize...and the loser gets a beating.
Duncan actually turns out to be the film’s secret weapon: the ginormous, deep-voiced actor, often used as nothing more than a walking special effect in movies like Street Fighter and Sin City, here seems to be having the time of his life in a flashy role that lets him display some impressive comedy chops. Meanwhile, the Lizards themselves (Jay Chandrasekhar, director Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske) play variations on their typical personas (i.e., weirder than expected, put-upon, fast-talking, sweet-natured and fratty), supported by engaging work and cameos from April Bowlby, Cobie Smulders, Will Forte, Jim Gaffigan, Lance Henriksen, Vivica A. Fox and, yes, Morgan Fairchild, all in a film that, while not always slammin’, is certainly a satisfying meal.
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