Review of Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie (2003) by Denise C — 26 Jul 2007

I happened upon this film (if you can call it that. More like edited highlights of a standup show) whilst having a late night flick through of the Sky Movie channels. Being a Brit I have little or no idea about American humour let alone humour from the deep south, but I only need the matter of a few seconds to put the remote down and watch this. I joined the action slightly late but from what I did see made me have to find this and watch it all the way through.

Basically four stand up comedians from the southern states, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Larry ?The Cable Guy? and Ron White entertain a crowd in Pheonix, Arizona with their own brand of Deep South wit and humour. They cover the usual bases here, families, sex, whining about aspects of life, but give it a brilliant spin. And all of them fill some sort of category here. White is the drunkard chain smoker with his glass of whiskey and fair share of bar stories. Larry is the crude lumberjack shirt wearing type who reminds you a lot of a larger Cleatus (The Simpsons) but a hell of a lot funnier. Engvall does the doting dad getting used to the fact that his kids are getting into their teens as is Foxworthy who does it with a much higher vocal pitch.

What sets Foxworthy and Engvall aside though are there signature routines though. For Engvall, its ?There?s your signs?? a brilliant segment that focuses on the art of giving stupid answers to really stupid questions. Foxworthys is the brilliant ? You Might Be a Redneck.? While this is poking fun at the South it is without doubt one of the funniest things I have ever watched and anyone even remotely aware of American culture can get most of the jokes that are told here (?If you stare at a carton of Orange Juice because it said CONCENTRATE?.?) .

Each Stand-up gets time on their own in this movie, but its at the end when all four get on stage that this gem comes to life. The interaction and obvious commadre between these fellas is well apparent and while Larry maybe a bit crude, Foxworthy a bit whiney, Engvall and White are spot on. White in particular with his bar stories is brilliant, and for me the best of the four. Looking pissed as a fart, his delivery is fantastic and deadpan is surely a lesser term for this man.

The only thing that does kind of grate is the unnecessary use of the obviously staged outtakes inbetween each act which is supposed to give us a view into these guys friendship but actual comes across as more of a staged PR event. Some of them are funny but would probably worked better as DVD extras.

However this goes down there as one of the funniest American stand up movies I have ever seen since Robin Williams stand up in New York and is not too difficult to follow for any non-American. Hugely Entertaining.