He gives the film 3 stars and writes
"As Hollywood works its way through retreads of TV series from the 1960s and '70s, I find I can approach each project with a certain purity, since I never saw any of the original shows. Never saw a single "Starsky and Hutch." Not one episode of "I Spy." No "Mod Squad." No "Charlie's Angels." What was I doing instead, apart from seeing thousands of movies? Avoiding episodic television like a communicable disease and improving myself with the great literature of the ages. Plus partying."
I love this man. I also never saw the old television show, nor do I know a single person my age who has. So I was wondering whether this movie could actually be all that popular given that this is not a show that is really "top of mind" in the consciousness of my generation. But, I thought to myself, with Stiller and Owen Wilson, as well as Snoop Dogg, in the starring roles, you draw their fans into the theater and maybe it won't matter whether anyone saw the old show. So long as the movie is not filled with a lot of inside jokes, it could work. But if it's one long inside joke, then I'm not going to get it, since I don't know anything about this old show.
It should be known that Ebert's new collection of reviews is out. It is titled Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2004 and is available at your neighboring Barnes and Noble or Borders.. So, if a stranger were to have pity on my financially and cinematically poor situation and send me this book, not only would the book not be refused, but it would sit on the back of my toilet for many moons allowing me to spend long hours of pure bliss on the toilet. That, my friend, is a promise.
Posted by scott at March 5, 2004 07:19 AM | TrackBackAll I remember about Starsky and Hutch were that they always seemed to break up illegal chop shops.
Wait a minute, that was CHIPS. Oh, forget it.
Posted by: joseph at March 5, 2004 04:14 PMMy wife won't let me keep books in the bathroom. There's only one in our apartment and she's afraid she won't get in if I have sufficient reading material. The trick is to find something episodic, that you can read in five minute intervals, that's not too engrossing. I'm currently compiling a science to toilet reading. Testing done not in a lab but in a lavatory.
I used to watch Starsky and Hutch (current age: 25), but my mom had weird taste in television. What I found interesting is that they considered setting S&H in the 2000's, which is totally mindboggling initially, but it was probably because the demographic they're appealing to is too young to have seen the original.