Beerfest.

Review #1122: Beerfest.

Cast: 
Jay Chandrasekhar (Barry Badrinath), Kevin Heffernan (Phil "Landfill" Krundle / Gil "Landfill" Krundle), Steve Lemme (Steve "Fink" Finkelstein), Paul Soter (Jan Wolfhouse), Erik Stolhanske (Todd Wolfhouse / Young Baron Ludwig), Nat Faxon (Rolf), Will Forte (Otto), Ralf Möller (Hammacher), Mo'Nique (Cherry), Eric Christian Olsen (Gunther), Jürgen Prochnow (Baron Wolfgang von Wolfhausen), Cloris Leachman (Great Gam Gam Wolfhouse), Donald Sutherland (Johann von Wolfhaus), Blanchard Ryan (Krista Krundle), and Gunter Schlierkamp (Schlemmer) Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar (#1121 - Super Troopers)

Review: 
Beerfest is the fourth film from Broken Lizard, released two years after Club Dread (2004), with the inspiration for this movie being a chugging contest at a beer garden in Australia that the group had. Admittedly, this is a film that does have the standards of a mediocre sports movie, just piled with a bunch of gags throughout an 110 minute run-time. The main five do manage to create a fair bit of laughs, for the most part. Soter and Stolhanske serve as the leads for the bare story that accompanies the film, each doing okay with what's given. Chandrasekhar carries this character of talented pathetic nature with competence. Heffernan is fairly entertaining at times. Lemme does okay, although some of the gags with him prove a bit too obvious. Leachman provides some warmth for brief but welcome times. The other members of the cast have their moments of amusement, although nothing too particularly greatly funny. The adversaries (highlighted by Forte) do prove serviceable, silly in their toughness that can be appreciated. For me, I felt that while the first third worked fine with its setups, the other parts come off a bit sluggish, with the pacing not working particularly well with what probably could've been a shorter experience. By the time it gets to the climax with its competition, it's more of a stagger than a sprint. The competition is fine, having a fair amount of amusement (and things you'd expect) that make it fairly worth it, I suppose, and it ends neatly enough without being too forced. Thinking back to Super Troopers (which was seven minutes shorter) reminded me that while it wasn't always a consistent film to go with, it seemed to gel better with its gags and pace that seemed a bit less tiring overall. For people looking for something wild and silly, this may prove up your alley well enough, particularly if you are in the right flavor/mood for something like this. For me, I thought it was an okay venture, but it isn't consistent enough to really think of it as a clearheaded winner.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.