Hot Rod (2007) - Samberg and Schaffer arrive with amiable stunt comedy

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Huge Flop Movie of the Year

Andy Samberg strikes a fearless pose on this pretty rad poster for Akiva Schaffer's Hot Rod

Rod wants to earn the love of his stepfather - and then beat his ass - by jumping over 15 buses on his motorbike. - The ultimate jump!

Hot Rod is written by Pam Brady (Hamlet 2 (2008)) and directed by theatrically debuting Akiva Schaffer (Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)).
Andy Samberg (Major Lazer (2015), TV-series) isn't as funny as the protagonist as Will Ferrell might have been, (the movie was written with him in mind originally), but he is many times easier on the eye, and he really works for his laughs here. He is teamed up with an enthusiastic cast that includes Bill Hader (The Angry Birds Movie (2016)), Danny McBride (Eastbound & Down (2009-13)), Sissy Spacek (Gray Matters (2006)) and Ian McShane (Columbo (1990), TV-series). They all help make Hot Rod a funny film. It features a lot of stunts and some hysterical comedy.

Related post:

2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 25.3 mil. $
Box office: 14.3 mil. $
= Huge flop (0.56 times the cost)
[Hot Rod was released 3 August (USA) and runs 88 minutes. The film was in development for years at Paramount as a Ferrell vehicle, which never came to fruition. After Samberg's Lonely Island music-comedy group were hired to SNL in 2005, the film changed direction to suit them instead. Shooting took place in British Columbia, Canada, including Vancouver, from July - September 2006. The film opened and peaked #9 to a 5.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 13.9 mil. $ (97.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 163k $ (1.1 %) and United Arab Emirates with 84k $ (0.6 %). Roger Ebert agreed with this review in giving the film a 3/4 star review. Hot Rod sold in excess of 24 mil. $ worth of copies on the North American home video market, which, if added into its theatrical gross, would change its status to that of merely a 'big flop'. Schaffer returned with several episodes of SNL and Lonely Island video shorts en masse before he returned to cinemas with The Watch (2012). Samberg returned theatrically in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008). Hot Rod is rotten at 40 % with a 4.9/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hot Rod?