Starsky and Hutch

Freeze! You Found The Right One

Main Cast: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Snoop Dogg

Director: Todd Phillips

An extremely silly but teddy-bear huggable take on the ’70s TV show, this movie mixes and matches any number of plots that graced the small screen and combines them into one.

We follow the antics of David Starsky (Stiller), an uptight and serious police officer who lives under the shadow of his mother (another officer, hinted to be a better one) and Ken Hutchinson (Wilson), a laid-back cop who takes the word “under cover” to extremes. His world-view is best described in an early scene, just after this duo had been partnered, when they find a body in the water. Starsky wishes to go right down the line with appropriate procedures. Hutch suggests they simply push the body back in and let the other division handle it; when Starsky refuses, Hutch finds the dead man’s wallet and steals some money before handing it over.

The rest of the movie follows their investigation of the dead man and eventually to Reese Feldman (Vaughn), a millionaire businessman who has developed a new brand of cocaine that passes the nose of trained police dogs. There are plenty of sight gags, one liners, and comedic situations along the way. I hesitate to use the word “plot” for this movie, it’s simply useful to get our heroes from one scene to the other.

But this movie can get away without a plot. It rests comfortably on the buddy-buddy rapport between Starsky and Hutch, and in that it succeeds. This movie is fun and silly, but not in a bad way. If you’d like to be reminded of the old show and have a few laughs, then by all means check this one out.