HOT ROD (FILM)

'''Hot Rod''' is a Paramount Pictures movie written by Pam Brady and directed by Akiva Schaffer; starring Andy Samberg, Sissy Spacek, Jorma Taccone, Will Arnett, Danny R. McBride, Ian McShane, Isla Fisher, and Bill Hader. It was originally written with Will Ferrell in mind (he is credited as executive producer). The film was released in America on August 3, 2007. It has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA for crude humor, language, and some comic drug-related and violent content.

Contents

Plot

Cast

Locations

Reception

Trivia

References

External links

Plot

For his entire life, Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg) believes his father, now deceased, was a successful and respectable stuntman working for Evel Knievel. He aspires to follow his father's footsteps and become a famous stuntman himself. Meanwhile, his stepfather Frank (Ian McShane) fails to respect Rod as a man, often going out of his way to beat him in sparring sessions and mocking his stuntman dream.
While he makes many attempts at landing jumps with his moped, most of them end unsuccessfully. After an ill-fated jump attempt at the public pool, he returns home to find out that Frank is in urgent need of a heart transplant. Angry at the thought of his stepfather dying without gaining his respect, Rod goes to a forest to contemplate but ends up rolling down an enormous hill. At the bottom, he sees a sign that gives him an idea to save Frank. He tells his half brother Kevin (Jorma Taccone), Rico (Danny R. McBride), and Dave (Bill Hader) about his plan to do a jump over fifteen school buses, and give the proceeds to his stepfather's surgery. He also adds Denise (Isla Fisher), his neighbor whom he has a crush on, to his crew.
To promote his stunt and also raise funds, Rod works parties, corporate get-togethers, and other events. Kevin releases a movie using his footage of Rod's stunts and sells over 200 tickets, but everyone at the movie laughs at Rod's expense because the film depicts his failed training attempts. Rod gets angry and throws the theater's projector out of a window, and ends up giving up all the money he has raised so far to cover the respective damages. Upset, he returns home, where his mother reveals to him that his father was not the stuntman he thought he was. Humiliated, Rod quits the crew and ends his dream to beat up his stepfather, despite his friends' interventions. However, he takes up the jump again when Dave asks Rod to take him to the hospital due to an injury sustained under the influence of LSD. When he does, Dave gives him advice that inspires him to apologize to Kevin. As he accepts his apology, Kevin also reveals that Rod's stunt footage has gotten popular through the Internet, and a local AM radio station offers to cover the expenses of the jump.
Rod gets the crew back together and they start setting up for the jump. On the day of the jump, his friends give him a new suit and motorbike. He also receives a kiss from Denise, who broke up with Jonathan, her insensitive and callous boyfriend. As Rod jumps off the ramp, the speed of his new motorbike enables him to jump over the buses, but as he gives his friends a thumbs up, they realize that he had let go of his bike in the process. The bike smashes through a stage and Rod's body slams against the other ramp. As his friends nurse him from his unconscious state, he wakes up. Rod, with the help of Kevin and Denise, triumphantly gets up to the applause of the crowd, and the donations finally accumulate to the $50,000 goal. The film ends as Rod again spars with Frank. Over the course of the fight, Rod gains the upper hand and succeeds in making his stepfather respect him.

Cast

★ Andy Samberg - Rod Kimble

★ Isla Fisher - Denise

★ Jorma Taccone - Kevin Powell

★ Bill Hader - Dave

★ Danny R. McBride - Rico

★ Sissy Spacek - Marie Powell

★ Ian McShane - Frank Powel

★ Chris Parnell - Barry Pasternak

★ Will Arnett - Jonathan

★ Chester Tam - Richardson

Locations

Shooting locations for the film include Cloverdale in Surrey, British Columbia, and under the Surrey end of the Patullo bridge, just southeast of Vancouver, British Columbia. Other locations in British Columbia include Coquitlam, Burnaby and Downtown Vancouver.

Reception

As of August 15, 2007 the film had a rating of 35% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 78 reviews (27 Fresh, 51 Rotten) and the "cream of the crop" rating was 26%. On Metacritic the film had a rating of 43% (mixed or average reviews) based on 27 reviews.
The film opened at #9 at the U.S. box office and grossed $5.3 million in its opening weekend.^[1]

Trivia

★ The band that performs right before the $50,000 stunt is Queens of the Stone Age in alternate, '80s-looking costumes.

★ The full trailer contains Three Swedish rock band songs, Europe's "Cherokee," Europe's "The Final Countdown," and The Hives' "See Through Head." The song at 2:01 in the trailer is sung by the UK rock band, Test Icicles' "Circle. Square. Triangle."

★ The song "The Art of Losing" by American Hi-Fi appears in the full theatrical trailer, and "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC is featured in the television ads.

★ Will Ferrell and Jimmy Miller worked on the script along with Pam Brady with Ferrell as the lead (Miller remains uncredited, but has produced several of Ferrell's films). When Andy Samberg signed on, the film was rewritten by Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and director Akiva Schaffer. According to Schaffer; ''We definitely put our own stamp on it. We had to make it feel like it was ours... so you assume a little bit of ownership."

★ The "punch dancing" scene in the film is a parody of the 1984 film Footloose.

References

1. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=hotrod.htm

External links

★ Official Movie Site

★

★

★

★

★ The Lonely Island Revs Up Hot Rod Premiere.com