Mindless but funny; hilarious ending scene is a classic

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 2004)

I would never have seen this movie if it had not come on during a cross-country plane flight. The promos seemed absurdly bad and I'm not a big Will Ferrell fan. But I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, there were a few times (particularly the end) in which I laughed so hard my eyes watered.
Let me not oversell, though. The plot, like the humor, is sophomoric. And the characters are all caricatures, just there as vehicles for jokes (unlike great comedy movies like Some Like it Hot or Tootsie, in which there is humor AND characters we care about).
But for pure laughs, this movie delivers the goods. Ferrell plays his macho seventies guy to the hilt and his leisure suit clad, sexist cohorts are as funny as they are ridiculous (except for the dumb guy, who was just there for gratuitous, not funny gags). And the final scene, which involves the main character's heroic dog and subtitles, is one of the most silly, creative, and utterly hilarious scenes I've ever seen. I embarrassed myself I laughed so hard on the plane.
For great stupid guy humor without making you think, I rated this movie a 6 (which is a decent rating for me!).