2006, Warner Brothers/Legendary Pictures, Dir. Jay Chandrasekhar - Starring Erik Stolhanske, Paul Soter, Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Cloris Leachman, Jurgen Prochnow, Mo’Nique, Eric Christian Olson, Will Forte, Nat Faxon

It’s nice to see that comedy troupe Broken Lizard has gotten back on its feet after the failure of Club Dread. Quite seldom has the definitive ‘troupe’ still been in existence in Hollywood, assuming one doesn’t equate the ‘Frat Pack’ as a troupe. This is a group of five middle-aged guys, bouncing immature jokes and tricks at each other’s expense. But it’s funny, no matter how ribald the content is - and it’s a rarity to see such a group of goofballs be so comfortable around each other. Sure, it can feel like a overdrawn SNL skit at times, but Beerfest is so unpredictable and silly it doesn’t even matter. Mind you, this is a movie basing its entire premises off drinking a lot of beer. Expect a lot of permanent marker tricks, drinking games, and its wide array of ethnic puns. And don’t expect to see some real professionalism in film: Broken Lizard is unbeatable when it comes to the raunch. A great way to finish off the summer season, Beerfest is a gas and a welcome return for the Lizards. Bottoms up.

Jan and Todd Wolfhouse (Soter and Stolhanske) have just seen the imminent death of their grandfather Von Wolfhausen (a cheeky cameo by Donald Sutherland), a brewery owner in the States. The brothers’ grandmother - Great Gam Gam (Leachman) - have requested they personally scatter the ashes in Germany, at the legendary Oktoberfest celebration. It is there that they uncover a top-secret international beer-drinking competition - Beerfest. They are subsequently ridiculed by their German relatives (Olson, Forte, Faxon) for their bad drinking skills. Their distant relative Baron Von Wolfhausen (Prochnow), who owns the most successful brewery in the country, threatens for them to hand over a “secret recipe” for the world’s greatest beer, which is unknown to the brothers. Vengeful of how they were treated abroad, the two make a pact to return a year later and defeat their German counterparts by means of a US Beerfest team. Jan and Todd gather together the nerdy beer genius Steve “Fink” Finklestein (Lemme), the one-man chugging machine Phil “Landfill” Krundle (Heffernan), and beer gaming extraordinaire Barry Badrinath (Chandrasekhar) to beat their Germans for national pride.

Critiquing each performance of Broken Lizard is simply impossible, as they can be treated as one consistently funny entity throughout Beerfest, but I guess I’ll find it impossible to do otherwise. Director, writer, and star Jay Chandrasekhar is probably one of the most outrageous characters as Barry. The character serves as a teammate, but also a surprisingly bisexual prostitute, who serves some indecent, yet hilarious, scenes. Soter and Stolhanske are two of the most sane characters, but remains amusing backbones to the story. Steve Lemme’s turn at a Jewish scientist who arouses frogs for a living is bizarre but good-natured. And Kevin Heffernan, ‘Super Troopers’ own Rod Farva, makes an understated move with Landfill Krundle. However, it is Heffernan that gets one of the movie’s biggest laughs - without him taking his clothes off. Jurgen Prochnow of ‘Das Boot’ fame gets his shot at comedy, and works relentlessly to keep up with Broken Lizard’s offbeat style - and succeeds. The German actor even gets a special tribute to his ‘Boot’ fame, as the European enemies spy on the Americans from a claustrophobic U-Boat. Will Forte of ‘SNL’ and Eric Christian Olson are also very charismatic in their overblown German outfits, keeping pace with the Lizards.

With their comedy driving towards anarchism (not to the Tom Green level, but close), Beerfest appears to have its inspirations drawn from Naked Gun and Airplane. Laughs derive from filthy language and dialogue instead of sight gags, which indicate some sort of limitation on the troupe’s routine. Super Troopers was composed of funny characters instead of funny things, fueling itself on conversation and interaction rather than carefully-planned jokes. Beerfest is fresh comedy because of this: it never drags on a joke for too long, and always keeps moving. The sets - their Munich was actually Albuquerque - are appropriate, and the scenes at Beerfest are priceless. The chaos, the cheers, and the alcohol consumption made the audience thirst for the theater’s open bar. I can see the movie becoming a hit for easily entertained college students and dad’s drinking buddies, as it serves what they want - sexual innuendo, beautiful women, and plenty of fizzling golden nectar. I don’t believe Broken Lizard wanted anything more, otherwise they would have changed their act entirely. Detractors will argue the futility of gross-out humor, I argue what it intended.

Beerfest is bound to find its audience, which was a rarity for this summer’s other comedies. Broken Lizard is a brutally honest group of guys making movies about silly things. Somebody has to do, but they feel obligated to bring it. If they had shame, they would’ve called this Wine-Tasting Party. Drink up.