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Starsky & Hutch script review
"Howdy folks. John here with a look at the script for the big screen adaptation of that classic 70s TV series Starsky & Hutch. Yes that's right, yet another moldy series is being pulled out of mothballs and given its moment of glory. The script is originally credited to Stevie Long with a rewrite by John O'Brien. Todd Phillips of Old School and Road Trip fame will direct. Now of course this isn't the final script but that doesn't matter, we just want to give you a taste of where this whole thing is going.
The stars of the movie are Ben Stiller as David Starsky and Owen Wilson as Ken Hutchinson. That should tell you just about everything you need to know about this movie. But I imagine you want to know a bit more than that. In this story, the two are talented cops who have a penchant for disaster. That has caused them to run through an awful lot of partners. So many in fact that their captain as partnered them up with each other because no one else will work with them. Starsky is intense, anally neat and completely unaware of how un-cool he is. Hutch on the other hand is relaxed, messy and so hip he has trouble getting through narrow doorways. Naturally they will have trouble working together.
The script gets off to a great start with a montage for each of the stars as they talk about their view on crime. It beautifully brings each character into razor sharp focus and has great style and humor as well. Unfortunately, that's the script's high point. Now this isn't a horrible script but it's not going to get too many people excited. It's standard buddy cop fare. It does lean heavily towards the comedic side, frequently making me recall Dragnet with Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd. That's not a bad thing.
What it needs badly is to try hard to find something, anything new to do in a buddy cop movie. When these films work, they can be great fun. Look at Lethal Weapon, Beverly Hills Cop and Rush Hour as good examples. What those films did well was to find a way to keep things realistic, which made the characters more believable and the action and comedy more organic. Starsky & Hutch has some nice characters but the world they exist in is pretty damn goofy. The character of Huggy Bear (to be played by Snoop Dogg) in particular is astonishingly hard to believe. You just don't wear yellow velvet outfits with crocodile boots and not attract a whole lot of attention.
The villains are nothing more than call ups from Central Casting. That said, a good actor like Vince Vaughn could easily transform a bland character into something fun. Go get 'em Vince.
There is a constant homoerotic thread running through the script that could be very funny if played right or could be painfully unfunny if played wrong. It culminates with a gag that has already been played out in a Seinfeld episode.
Clearly the script was written with the two stars in mind. Starsky is a cross between Stiller's Mr. Furious from Mystery Men and Fokker from Meet the Parents. Mostly Mr. Furious though. Hutch is pretty much Owen Wilson in... well, name any Owen Wilson movie. Neither actor is going to have to stretch themselves too hard.
What mostly comes to mind when reading this script is the source material. I've seen episodes of Starsky & Hutch when I was a kid but they didn't make much of an impact on me. Mostly I remember the car, which incidently is a prominent part of the script. Now, I'm 32 and I have only vague memories of the original series. That puts me at the upper end of that prime demographic the studios are always seeking for their films. That probably means that the majority of people between 18-34 have little to no memory of Starsky & Hutch. So why bother making a movie? Why not skip buying the rights to the series and just make a new movie with new names along the same lines as this movie? I understand the concept of using an established brand to make it easier to sell the movie. But when your target audience has next to no familiarity with that brand, it defeats the purpose. Right now I think the names Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson carry more weight with their intended audience than the names Starsky and Hutch.
My little rant aside, the script boils down to a good core in two solid characters, that floats in a sea of mediocrity. Give these guys a real world with something to do that is of reasonable scale and you could really have something. Leaning on supposed 70s cool just isn't enough reason to make a movie."
(Review submitted by John Shea)
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That's all folks...
Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)
Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org
Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 24 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.
