Without A Paddle (2004)

I first saw the preview for Without A Paddle and thought, ehhh…doesn’t look that great, maybe when I’m really bored, I’ll rent it. I also heard from my friend that it was a comical film. I thought okay, do I listen to her or is it going to be a stupid funny movie that I really don’t get into? Well, it got to the point that nothing new had come out that I really wanted to see, so I decided what the heck…why not a little comedy!

Seth Green as a Doctor was a little…odd. Hey, we’re Buffy fans in this household and we’re used to Werewolf Green. But, he actually did a great job portraying the paranoid doctor-type. The plot helped that out a little, but not so much that you got carried away and didn’t notice how schizophrenic he was.

Matthew Lillard took on a different role than usual. He wasn’t the same funny stoner guy from Scooby Doo or the lunatic guy from Scream, he was the down-to-earth, working 9 to 5, almost-family type. He did an okay job at this, but I think we’ve seen him too much as the funny guy lately that this role just doesn’t fit him.

Dax Shepard (now here’s a guy I don’t remember in any film) we remember from the MTV series Punk’d. He’s a very comical guy. He plays the “screwup” of the friends,who hasn’t made anything of himself since high school, just out enjoying the party scene. I think he does a nice job portraying this character in the film. I’d guessed that he would do a good job beforehand, since I’ve always laughed hysterically at the shows I’ve seen of Punk’d.

The plot of the film was okay, but definitely not reality. Come on, who would, at 30, decide to drop everything and follow a childhood dream? But, the way they fleshed out the characters (and who they had as actors) helped it along nicely. The movie really does try to get to a point and makes it there without the viewer getting bored or falling asleep. It was a very predictable film, as you could tell that this was the same old “high school buddies, trying to follow a past dream” that we’ve seen before, but still enjoyable.

I thought the film might have a few comical points to it and that I may enjoy myself (as long as there weren’t any other films I wanted to see out yet) - and I was more than right. I thoroughly enjoyed the film. As for Reid, he got a few laughs out of it. It really helped that the 2 of the 3 main characters were actors that I enjoy watching in any role.

I would definitely recommend this film for a rainy day, when things are dreary and you need something to cheer you up. I will probably put this on my wish list, but I’ll wait until it’s a little cheaper.

So next rainy day…rent this film for you and yours and get ready to sit back and enjoy a film that shows once again that somebody always has it worse than you do!