Flying overseas often provides the opportunity to watch films featured on the trip, and I found myself watching the movie Wild Hogs, a humorous motorcycle flick. Wild Hogs is meant to be funny, and it does come off with some funny moements, however, it is not an amazing comedy film.
Wild hogs follows several older men who have dreams of being bikers. They all enjoy meeting together, and calling themselves the ‘Wild Hogs’, as a certain term for their biker ‘gang’ of sorts. Now, you have to realize that tthis group of men does not fit the bill what most people would consider ‘bikers.’ Instead, they are a motely array, with a single computer geek, a doctor, a guy married to a super model, and a toliet cleaner tired of his nagging wife.
Each guy has his own personal issues, and each guy is not satisfied with their current, typical lifestyle. They decide to venture out onto the open road, drive to the Pacific, and find freedom in the true ‘biker’ lifestyle on the open road. They attempt to cut any connections to a plan or set route by smashing their cell phones, and tear off out onto the open road.
Once out on the road, they run a true biker ‘gang’ of rowdies who not only steal one of their bikes, but also terrorize the a small town whose police force lacks the will and force to stop them. Through this experience and their subsequent attempts to deal with this real biker gang, all of the Wild Hogs learn something, and grow in different ways, finding the freedom they so desire out on the open road.
Now, while the film seems to aim to be kid friendly, it still comes off quite awkward at moments. There is a lot of gay jokes, partly thanks to a police officer who has been following them, and thinks they, like him, are a little less than straigh. A skinny dipping scene, plus a few other awkward moments throw a little bit of crude humor into the movie, but there is pretty much no nudity, except for a brief glimpse of a male rear end, as one character dives into a pond.
Most of the humor is good clean fun for the whole family (what? That still exists?) and there is even a character building shown as a group of little guys stand up for what is right against a bullying gang. Now, while some may think I’m over critquing what is meant to be a comedy, keep in mind that I’m the kind of guy who generally hates watching movies that leave me feeling like I wasted my time. Here, in Wild Hogs, the plot wasn’t really deep, and neither was the quality of the film.
Yet, it still had its redeeming moments, albight predictable at some turns, and did get some decent laughs. It’s not the sort of movie I think I would ever purchase, but, it is not terrible either. Watch it, and consider what I’ve thought about the movie. I hope this mini review helps!
