Wild Hogs (2007)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Walt Becker

Writer (WGA):

Brad Copeland (written by)

Release Date:

2 March 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

A lot can happen on the road to nowhere.

Plot:

A group of suburban biker wannabes looking for adventure hit the open road, but get more than they bargained for when they encounter a New Mexico gang called the Del Fuegos.

Plot Keywords:

Biker | Friend | Motorcycle | Biker Gang | New Mexico

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Tim Allen	...	Doug Madsen
John Travolta	...	Woody Stevens
Martin Lawrence	...	Bobby Davis
William H. Macy	...	Dudley Frank
Ray Liotta	...	Jack
Marisa Tomei	...	Maggie
Kevin Durand	...	Red
M.C. Gainey	...	Murdock
Jill Hennessy	...	Kelly Madsen
Dominic Janes	...	Billy Madsen
Tichina Arnold	...	Karen Davis
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Charley
Jason Sklar	...	Earl Dooble
Randy Sklar	...	Buck Dooble
Drew Sidora	...	Haley Davis

Also Known As:

Blackberry (Philippines: English title) (review title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, and some violence.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Australia:M | Ireland:12A | UK:12A | Canada:G (Quebec) | Finland:K-11 | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #43259) | Singapore:PG | Netherlands:6 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Germany:6 | Argentina:13 | Malaysia:U | Argentina:Atp | Hong Kong:IIA | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:7 | South Korea:12 | Peru:14

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

When Peter Fonda's character Damien Blade tells the Wild Hogs to lose their watches, it's a subtle reference to Easy Rider (1969), which starred Fonda. In the beginning of that movie Fonda's character Wyatt throws his watch away for the upcoming road trip.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The vulture following Dudley is a Cinereous Vulture or European Black Vulture (Aegypius Monachus) native to Southern Europe and Asia. One would not encounter one in New Mexico.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Dudley Frank: [after getting a fist-tap from Woody and nearly wiping out] Whoa! Whoa! Oh! Man, oh, man. I almost lost it back there. I didn't know what was going on.
[hits a sign face first]

Movie Connections:

References "Futurama: Roswell That Ends Well (#4.1)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Walk Like a Man (You Can Call Me Your Man)

Funnier than I expected

In Wild Hogs, four middle-aged friends, Doug, Woody, Bobby, and Dudley(played by Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy), go through an almost simultaneous mid-life crisis deciding their lives are just not wild enough. Life is too short so why not wing it? So they do wing it and leave their homes as a motorcycle gang called the 'wild hogs' and go on an unpredictable road trip that could lead them anywhere and in any kind of trouble. Unfortunately they get more trouble than they bargained for when they encounter a tough biker gang and get on their bad side.

The movie was funny and cute and although it was very clichéd and predictable at parts I found it enjoyable nonetheless. The characters are likable and the cast had surprisingly good chemistry together, as I didn't expect they would after seeing the DVD cover. My favorite parts of Wild Hogs usually involved either William H. Macy's 'geeky' character, who was the most funnily realistic and John Travolta as the goofy and spontaneous member of the gang, who was hilarious in his own very weird way. Tim Allen was also great as Doug and Martin Lawrence wasn't so bad here as he had some great one-liners. Ray Liotta as the tough biker gang leader was pretty hilarious(maybe unintentionally?) but he was great. Marisa Tomei has a small role as a love interest and she was fine. John C. McGinley's cameo was priceless and a bit too short- he could have used at least one more appearance.

Wild Hogs' best aspects are its comedy, slapstick humor, and despite some 'bad' language I think kids can enjoy it as well. My nine year old brother loved it. I was surprised by the bad reviews because it was really enjoyable for me and fun to watch. Watching it with my brother, we replayed many scenes over and over again and cracked up every time.