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Review: 'Dukes of Hazzard' is roadkill
Cheesecake, car chases and idiocy


By Paul Clinton
For CNN.com

(CNN) -- "The Dukes of Hazzard" is a prime example of a sad Hollywood habit: taking a popular -- but rather dumb -- TV show and turning it into a totally stupid and meaningless film.

This flick is a car wreck with boobs.

Now, let me just say, if your idea of a good film is a nearly naked Jessica Simpson and completely over-the-top chase scenes, then this movie is for you.

If, however, you're not a teenage boy with raging hormones -- and you like films with an actual plot (instead of walking and talking clichés) -- this movie may put you into a coma. The storyline is so dumb and predictable it wouldn't have even made the grade for an episode of the original TV series.

Taking over the roles made famous by Tom Wopat and John Schneider are Sean William Scott as Bo Duke and Johnny Knoxville as his cousin Luke. Jessica Simpson plays the role of another cousin, Daisy Duke, a woman who apparently thinks clothing is optional.

Rounding out this southern-fried family is Willie Nelson as Uncle Jesse, the mastermind behind the Dukes' main source of income -- moonshine.

And Burt Reynolds, proving that his career has rapidly slid downhill, plays the one-dimensional role of the evil and corrupt county commissioner Boss Hogg.

Living for cars and girls
The plot in a nutshell -- which is where it belongs -- is that Hogg has hatched a scheme to defraud the Dukes and their neighbors of their property in order to strip-mine the land for coal.

Adding to the "fun" is an annual car race that Bo has won for the last four years driving his infamous 1969 Dodge Charger, the General Lee.

That's about it in terms of a storyline. The rest of the film consists of the boys chasing women and being chased by dozens of police cars throughout the state of Georgia as the Dukes try to stop Hogg from ruining Hazzard County

Scott and Knoxville try their best to infuse this flick with a semblance of comedy. But "The Dukes of Hazzard" is totally free of any creativity. It's nothing more than a bunch of cars flying through space and some well-endowed farm girls. Simpson -- in her feature film debut -- is basically reduced to a sexual punch line.


Jessica Simpson plays Daisy Duke and Willie Nelson is Uncle Jesse.Screenwriter John O'Brien -- who also penned another TV show, "Starsky & Hutch," into a lousy film -- has created a movie full of bad punch lines and insulting stereotypes about people who live in the rural South.

Director Jay Chandrasekhar -- who created the low-budget indie hit "Super Trooper" -- is basically just directing traffic as the movie stumbles from one lame scene to another.

The film's only redeeming feature is the end credits, which show extremely funny outtakes from the movie. Unfortunately, they come about 103 minutes into the 106-minute film.

Hollywood's trade papers are full of stories about the low box office numbers for this summer's movies. If you're looking for an answer as to why this is the case, look no further than "The Dukes of Hazzard."

It's official: I have not read one remotely good review of this movie. Too bad we can't hit mute when Jessica Simpson is onscreen.

So umm...when's the DVD coming out?

Did anyone really have any hope that this would receive good reviews.

Please.

I've never had any intention of seeing this movie. The music video, however, is another story......:D

<a href='http://sonybmg.navio.com/jessicasimpson%2Dboots/' target='_blank'>Boots</a>

Wasn't the T.V. show roadkill as well? I mean what did you expect? Whenever Jessica Simpson is the best feature of the trailer it really tells you just how much sustance the movie has. And the trailers weren't that funny.

But Jessie's video is hot.

I think the television show's ratings and longetivity would show it wasn't roadkill at all.

No, it just shows what today's reality shows and Jerry Springer shows: Americans will watch anything.

Dukes of Hazzard was pretty bad ... actually, it was VERY bad ... but in a "guilty pleasure" sort of way ... it does not hold up well over time, either. Many TV shows of that era such as A-Team and CHiPs are like that, too.

LJBlazerFan Wrote:I think the television show's ratings and longetivity would show it wasn't roadkill at all.

Still doesn't make it a good show. Like FM said, it was a guilty pleasure. Daisy Duke in particular was a guilty pleasure.

I think the definition of a "good show" that the networks and producers use is ratings.

I think the definition that some intellectuals seem to use is called - an opinion. Regardless of opinion, the TV show was certainly not "roadkill."

Cmon, LJ, that show was just b-a-a-a-a-a-d. Just admit it was corny!!!! Nothing wrong with that. It was SUPPOSED to be bad and was intentionally written that way (god, at least I hope that was the case). That was the point -- to be so bad it was sorta good. During its day, it worked. We'll look back on some of today's shows in the same way 20 years from now. Especially some of these reality shows where we'll all go, "What the heck were we thinking?"

There's a difference between "profitability" good and "artistically" good. TDOH was financially successful far beyond anything the network expected -- it was a mid-season replacement that was just thrown together in the middle of the Smokey and the Bandit/CB craze, and it was based on a very bad D movie that hardly anyone actually saw. There were virtually no expectations of it being back after the original 13 episodes. It happened along at just the right time, like a lot of successful shows. That's also one reason I don't think the movie will be successful. Tastes have changed, times are different. The broad appeal isn't there like it was in the late 70s and early 80s when there was a perfect storm for The Dukes of Hazzard to work. Smokey and the Bandit was one of the hottest movies, actually a franchise that spawned sequels during TDOH run, Burt Reynolds was the hottest actor, country music thanks to "Urban Cowboy" was becoming fashionable as Disco hit its peak and became uncool, truckers were on strike and in the news and everyone was buying CB radios. All of those things contributed to The Dukes of Hazzard becoming part of pop culture.

The show had its merits. It had interesting, memorable characters you could imitate and quote, and good chase scenes. It WAS entertaining, though the last few years weren't nearly as interesting as the first couple of seasons. (Seen one car chase and seen Roscoe yuk yuk once, you've seen 'em all.) It certainly appealed to lots of young boys in our age demographic (now we're in our 30s and early 40s, most of us), and in turn brought in our parents as viewers because other than Daisy Duke's short-shorts it was relatively wholesome and the good guys always won. That doesn't make it "good" though. My favorite character was Uncle Jesse, though I think it was mostly because I liked Denver Pyle from his days on "Grizzly Adams."

I think most fans of the original show will be disappointed in the movie because it can't possibly live up to the things they remember they liked about the original show. Now it just comes off as stupid in the same way an Ernest Goes To Camp movie comes across now. And though she's beautiful, a lot of the original fans of the show are now old enough to be Jessica Simpson's father or at least her weird uncle. So lusting after her like we did as teens for Barbara Bach just feels wrong in a "go-take-a-shower, dirty-old-man sort of way." ha, ha ... Though let me add, today's kids might like it just as we did back in the day ...

That may be one of the most eloquent dissertations on the Dukes of Hazzard ever written. :rofl: :rofl:

Egad, I need to go do some yardwork or something ...

Flying Mouse Wrote:So lusting after her like we did as teens for Barbara Bach just feels wrong in a "go-take-a-shower, dirty-old-man sort of way." ha, ha ... Though let me add, today's kids might like it just as we did back in the day ...

It was Catherine, not Barbara. And Jessica Simpson is no Catherine Bach. (Probably because I haven't been a hormonal adolescent in a while.)

Otherwise, I agree, FM. In my mind, the difference between the TV show and the movie is the difference between dumb and harmless, and just dumb.

Flying Mouse Wrote:Cmon, LJ, that show was just b-a-a-a-a-a-d. Just admit it was corny!!!! Nothing wrong with that. It was SUPPOSED to be bad and was intentionally written that way (god, at least I hope that was the case). That was the point -- to be so bad it was sorta good. During its day, it worked. We'll look back on some of today's shows in the same way 20 years from now. Especially some of these reality shows where we'll all go, "What the heck were we thinking?"

There's a difference between "profitability" good and "artistically" good. TDOH was financially successful far beyond anything the network expected -- it was a mid-season replacement that was just thrown together in the middle of the Smokey and the Bandit/CB craze, and it was based on a very bad D movie that hardly anyone actually saw. There were virtually no expectations of it being back after the original 13 episodes. It happened along at just the right time, like a lot of successful shows. That's also one reason I don't think the movie will be successful. Tastes have changed, times are different. The broad appeal isn't there like it was in the late 70s and early 80s when there was a perfect storm for The Dukes of Hazzard to work. Smokey and the Bandit was one of the hottest movies, actually a franchise that spawned sequels during TDOH run, Burt Reynolds was the hottest actor, country music thanks to "Urban Cowboy" was becoming fashionable as Disco hit its peak and became uncool, truckers were on strike and in the news and everyone was buying CB radios. All of those things contributed to The Dukes of Hazzard becoming part of pop culture.

The show had its merits. It had interesting, memorable characters you could imitate and quote, and good chase scenes. It WAS entertaining, though the last few years weren't nearly as interesting as the first couple of seasons. (Seen one car chase and seen Roscoe yuk yuk once, you've seen 'em all.) It certainly appealed to lots of young boys in our age demographic (now we're in our 30s and early 40s, most of us), and in turn brought in our parents as viewers because other than Daisy Duke's short-shorts it was relatively wholesome and the good guys always won. That doesn't make it "good" though. My favorite character was Uncle Jesse, though I think it was mostly because I liked Denver Pyle from his days on "Grizzly Adams."

I think most fans of the original show will be disappointed in the movie because it can't possibly live up to the things they remember they liked about the original show. Now it just comes off as stupid in the same way an Ernest Goes To Camp movie comes across now. And though she's beautiful, a lot of the original fans of the show are now old enough to be Jessica Simpson's father or at least her weird uncle. So lusting after her like we did as teens for Barbara Bach just feels wrong in a "go-take-a-shower, dirty-old-man sort of way." ha, ha ... Though let me add, today's kids might like it just as we did back in the day ...

Mouse, I will agree that it was somewhat corny, and while it may not have been "artistically good," there is no doubt that it was popular. It was indeed far more popular than anyone ever expected.

And, you're right. I'm sure that folks will think the same thing about some of today's top-rated TV shows 20 years from now.

I think a lot of people want to be entertained. They want television to "take them away" from their real life - even if it's just for 30 minutes or an hour once a week. Shows like "Dukes" did that years ago, and various shows do it today.

However, I think it's interesting all these predictions of the movie failing - yet it was No. 1 at the box office this weekend. Will it be a record setter? Probably not. It probably won't even crack the top 10 or 20.

I personally won't go see it because I think this is a worse re-make than the one for "The Longest Yard." But, I won't put the television show and the movie in the same category.

That's just my opinion.

Man Jessica is HOT. :rolltide:

Did I mention she was hot?

Hey Attalla, what do you think about Jessica Simpson?

You mean Her (the sound you hear is attalla's jaw hitting the floor).



yea, DAS what I'm talkin about.

:rolltide: :rolltide: :rolltide: :rolltide: :rolltide:






Hope your WIFE is not looking over your shoulder. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Damn..........

No she is not looking.........at least I hope not...... :D