Daisy Duke might have managed to launch shorts and convince singer Jessica Simpson to preen about in
The Dukes of Hazzard, but the film is nothing to write home about. The film, about the travails of two cousins Luke Duke (Johnny Knowxville) and Bo Duke (Sean William Scott), as they try to save the family farm is not only drab as compared to its 1980s TV counterpart, but also tries banking on crude humour to hide the lack of strong direction.
Set in rural landscapes, the film revolves around the Duke cousins, who live with their jokester uncle Jesse, played by Wille Nelson, and lust after a scantily clad and sexy Daisy Duke (Jessica Simpson).
Luke’s dreams of repeating his win at the yearly cross-country car race suffers a setback when villain Boss Hogg (Burt Reynolds) brings in a gang of professionals racers to beat Luke at his own game. In between trying to show up the racing champ, Hogg also has plots to cheat the Hazzard County into getting an okay for a strip-mining initiative, which would mean the Dukes losing their family farm.
The two cousins not only have to fight Hoggs but also the cops, led by Sheriff Roscoe P Coltrane (M C Gainey), that the villain sets upon them.
Filled with racy dialogues, the film centers around car chases. The real hero that emerges from the film is an orange-colored Dodge Charger, which crashes into police cars every chance it gets. Why shouldn’t it? After all it has mechanic Cooter (David Koechner) to fix up its dents.
Director’s Jay Chandrasekhar’s idea of serving hillbilly American fun to the urban filmgoer falls flat on its face thanks to lack of acting prowess of the cast, unwarranted raunchy dialogues, as well as chaotic scenes.
Simpson barely (pun intended) survives in
The Dukes of Hazzard as she succeeds in doing what she was hired for – baring it all and providing some eye candy.
The cast of the film went to town telling everyone they had a blast filming the big screen adaptation of the popular sitcom. It’s a pity the audience can’t say the same. A better idea would be to get tapes of the 80s sitcom and watch it on a home theatre system with a bag of popcorn.
