A few scattered laughs, but mostly forgettable

Rating: 4/10 (23 December 2006)

This is one of those movies where I could sort of see where the writers/director were headed, but they didn't quite get there. It's not truly wretched, but then again, there's no real reason to recommend it either. I suppose if you're a huge Jack Black fan it would be worth watching, but that's about the only reason.
I actually wasn't aware that this is the same director who did "Napoleon Dynamite", but it all makes sense now. This movie is "airy" in the same way that film is - it's visually driven rather than dialog driven, and the barely-existent plot moves along at a snail's pace. There's just not a whole hell of a lot to keep one's interest. Consequently, I must have day dreamed through at least a third of it.
For once, Jack Black's idiosyncratic comedic stylings can't rescue this flick. He does his usual bit - making up stupid songs, bumbling about, reveling in his fatness, etc, but none of it is able to produce more than a few scattered laughs. In fact, this could well be a career-ender for him.
I should also mention that there is a goodly amount of wrestling in this movie, so if you're a wrestling fan you may get something more out of it than I did. I hate wrestling.
To sum up, there's no real reason to watch this unless you really love Jack Black or wrestling.