Beerfest

Beerfest
Completely Totally Unrated Version
Paul Soter, Eric Stolhanske, Mo’nique
Kevin Hefferman, Steve Lemme, Cloris Leachman
Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar
Written by Broken Lizard
Warner Home Video 2006
110 minutes

Beerfest is the DVD Norm from Cheers would sleep with Vera for. This is a drinking comedy so it features lots of beer, beer drinking games, and, of course, bare breasts. If you are looking for a thoughtful, intelligent comedy, pass. If you want to be entertained, have a few laughs, and have flashbacks of your frat days, Beerfest is the kind of no-brainer comic movie you have to accept on its own terms and if you do delivers a good time. It is a bit long at under two hours but still lots of fun.

Beerfest is the story of Jan and Todd Wolfhouse (Paul Soter and Eric Stolhanske) who, wishing to honor their father’s last wishes, go to Germany to sprinkle his ashes during Oktoberfest. There, they learn a terrible family secret and are embarrassed by the German’s drinking abilities (this is, after all, the team that beat the Irish in the finals). Wishing to defend the honor of their family and that of their grandmother (Cloris Leachman), the Wolfhouse put together a drinking team for the next Beerfest, the underground festival held during Oktoberfest in Munich. Thrown into the mix is storyline about a stolen beer recipe the boys discover in their possession. This beer comedy was made by the same Broken Lizard team that made Super Troopers.

Tragedy strikes at some point in time in the movie but in a real Dallas style move, all is well. Mo’nique is in Beerfest as the grandmother’s new helper and a couple of other things. She gets into a bed scene and a really cool fight scene to boot.

This beer comedy, made by the same Broken Lizard team that made Super Troopers goes for the lowest common denominator from time to time, such as hand-pleasuring frogs, and basic stereotypical comic jabs at the Chermans (Germans) a few of whom sound like Franz in Father of the Bride, but since it never claimed to be aiming for more, what the hell. Look for Donald Sutherland (of MASH fame) as the Wolfhouse father and Willie Nelson at the end of the movie.

Special features on the Beerfest DVD include stories about party fouls, a Beer 101 short, a feature on frog fluffers (don’t ask), as well as deleted scenes.

 

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