I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of Broken Lizard. Sure Super Troopers made me laugh, but BeerFest and Club Dread just made me shake my head. So, I was all ready to cue my skeptical face when Broken Lizard screened their newest comedy, The Slammin' Salmon, at SXSW this week. But, slap my ass and color me surprised when the skeptical face was replaced by howls of laughter. And I wasn't even shitfaced!
The film is about the owner of a restaurant who initiates a contest to see which of his waiters can earn the most money in a single night with a prize of $10,000 because he owes the Japanese mob money and needs to raise some 'skrilla fast. The loser is promised a broken rib sandwich by the owner and former boxing heavyweight champ, Cleon Slammin' Salmon (Michael Clark Duncan in his "who knew he was funny?" role).
For anyone who's worked in a restaurant, the flick rings true with all the dining shenanigans you'd expect: people making out in the walk in, eating off people's plates, and flat out lying to the patrons. Throw in creepy chefs and crazy assed waiters, it's a flashback to my hostessing days.
All the Broken Lizards star as waiters, and while they're funny, no one can beat out Clark Duncan's crazy ass non sequiturs--except for perhaps Jay Chandrasekhar as Nuts, the clinically insane waiter who runs around pantless and dreaming of kitties when he's off his meds. Clark Duncan is not in that terribly much of the film, but when he is, he steals the entire movie. It's rumored that some of Clark Duncan's lines were ad libbed, which really shows off his comedic chops of being wacky, crazy, and bad at math.
Seriously, although I liked I Love You, Man and while Anna Faris made me giggle in Observe and Report, I have not laughed harder this week than I did at this film. It's that funny. Sure, it's predictable, but if you can't laugh at the line "How are you feline?" you have no funny bone.
--Darcie Duttweiler
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