Broken Lizard's Club Dread (R, 2004)

This second film from the would-be wild and crazy guys from would-be comedy troupe Broken Lizard features their signature crass sex and drug jokes and adds in grisly violence courtesy of a masked serial killer with a machete. The story takes place at the island resort owned by Coconut Pete (Bill Paxton), a slightly burnt-out Jimmy Buffett-type who had four gold records with songs about kicking back in paradise (he insists his "Pina Colada Burg" pre-dated "Margaritaville"). The resort is like a grown-up version of the place Pinocchio turned into a donkey -- all sex, drugs, drinking, and more sex. And lots of girls in and out of bikinis. The movie opens with a threesome drinking Ecstasy-spiked margaritas as they get ready to have sex with each other. They are all slashed to death by a masked killer, and the rest of the movie is just one dumb joke after another as almost-interchangeable characters are killed off.

Does the world really need a comic slasher movie? Or, to be more precise, does it need another failed attempt at one? BROKEN LIZARD'S CLUB DREAD lacks imagination, wit, acting ability, or distinctive characters.

What it does have is a lot of joke-oids -- dialogue that has the rhythm of a joke but is no actual comic content. When a sweet young thing tells a character that she goes to Oral Roberts University, you know what the joke-oid is going to be. And imagine the non-riotous non-humor they can find in an Asian character whose name, Yu, sounds just like the word "you!" Twice! And then there's that little statue with the huge genitals. And the sex in a graveyard: "Isn't this like sacred or something?" "No, they're dead!" And the bestiality humor. They even throw in that gone-and-should-have-been-forgotten chestnut, sarcastic clapping.

Studio: Fox Searchlight
Director: Jay Chandrasekhar
Cast: Bill Paxton, Elena Lyons, Tanja Reichert
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 103 minutes
Theatrical release: February 26, 2004
DVD release: May 24, 2004
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: violence/gore, sexual content, language and drug use