Review of Hot Rod (1950) by Allan C — 07 Feb 2014

This comedy deserves a bit more respect than your average SNL performer vehicle (i.e.. "Joe Dirt" "Corky Romano" or "Deuce Bigelow"). The story is essentially the same as another SNL star vehicle "Dirty Work," except instead of Norm MacDonald trying to earn money with buddy Artie Lange (and cute love interest Traylor Howard) to save father figure Jack Warden, it's about Andy Samberg trying to earn money with buddies Bill Hader & Danny McBride (and cute love interest Isla Fisher) to save father figure Ian McShane.

So it's a pretty conventional story, with some fairly obvious jokes, but the film is also littered with some pretty offbeat humor more along the lines of Samberg's Lonely Island comedy, which is what makes this film worth watching.

Sissy Spacek plays Samberg's mom, Will Arnett plays his romantic rival and Chris Parnell also has a funny small role as an announcer. There's even a performance by Queens of the Stoneage at Hot Rod's climactic stunt, which is worth at least half a star on it's own.