Beerfest (Widescreen Unrated Edition)

You have to love any comedy that throws up a warning screen before the opening credits - in this case, it's a warning to leave the serious beer-drinking to the professionals (or else you will die). Mr. Big Man on Campus may be able to drink his frat buddies under the table, but he probably wouldn't last five minutes at Beerfest. It's much more than a contest to see who can drink the most beer in the shortest amount of time. Beerfest is a veritable mini-Olympics of brewsky, with such games as beer pong, quarters, and the formidable Das Boot helping determine the overall champion team. This is truly where the big boys play.

Upon the death of their grandfather, Jan (Paul Soter) and Todd Wolfhouse (Erik Stolhanske) travel to Munich to carry out his last request - having his ashes scattered in his homeland during Oktoberfest. There is nothing somber about this occasion, though, as an abundance of beer and women's breasts quickly extinguish whatever grief they may have been feeling. Then their guide takes them to Beerfest, and they think they've died and gone to heaven - at first. All that changes when their German cousin, Wolfgang von Wolfhaus (Jurgen Prochnow) orders them to leave and attacks their family honor by accusing their dead grandfather of stealing the renowned family beer recipe and fleeing to American with his prostitute of a mother. Being humiliated by a bunch of pansy Germans with their Hans and Franz accents and tight little lederhosen doesn't sit well with the Wolfhouses. Upon returning home, they vow to form a team and return to Beerfest next year so that they can have their revenge on the Germans

As far as team members go, the guys fall back on some old college drinking buddies. "Landfill" (Kevin Heffeman), still bitter about having lost his job at a brewery for drinking too much of the outgoing beer, is an easy sell to join the team - and they don't call him Landfill for nothing. "Fink" Finkelstein (Steve Lemme), now a scientist spending most of his time masturbating frogs, doesn't look like a beer drinker, but you know how those wiry guys can fool you - and he's smart, hopefully smart enough to figure out the trick of conquering Das Boot, Beerfest's ultimate tie-breaking contest. Fink's not too high on the idea of participating at first - but his reluctance disappears completely when he learns that the enemy is German (never underestimate the power of the "eye of the Jew"). Then there's the somewhat controversial choice of Barry Badrinath (Jay Chandrasekhar, doing triple duty as actor, co-writer, and director). Barry is really down on his luck nowadays, and there's also the fact that he slept with Jan's (or was it Todd's) girlfriend back in college), so there's always some underlying friction there. As the guys begin their training, though, they all come together - putting their health, their jobs, their families, even their own lives on the line, super-focused on winning the championship. The German team, especially Wolfgang von Wolfhaus, has some dirty tricks up its sleeve, though, making their play for the long-lost family beer recipe weeks before the contest. Their sneaky blitzkrieg tactics threaten to break up the American team, but these guys are playing for everything they hold dear - the long-lost family beer recipe, their Great Gam Gam (Cloris Leachman), all underdogs, each other, as well as for America. And so this becomes a story of the underdog daring to dream and trying to make that dream a reality.

I thought this movie was pretty hilarious. The whole Beerfest atmosphere is a hoot, the guys' training regimen produces many a funny moment, the dialogue holds many a good joke, and the actors really gel together quite well despite their obvious differences. Yes there's nudity and a fair amount of toilet humor (sometimes literally), but what else would you expect from a film of this type? And don't go thinking it's a completely cookie-cutter plot either, as Beerfest introduced a couple of story elements I never expected (starting with the end of the very first scene). Not since Strange Brew have I been this entertained by a movie about beer and the men who drink it.

Beerfest begins with a funeral for the two main characters' grandfather. Jan and Todd Wolfhouse are charged with the task of taking their grandfather's ashes to be settled in the family plot in Germany. Little do they know, the family plot is actually Beerfest, "the ultimate test of a beer gamer's mettle." When they get there and are accused by their German cousins of having stolen the family beer recipe, they are quickly humiliated in a drinking contest and sent back to America with their tails between their legs. They vow to have their revenge and come back next year to win the Beerfest competition.

Jan and Todd assemble a team of their best friends and former drinking buddies:
Landfill - an overweight eating champion recently fired from his position at a brewery for drinking on the job
Fink - a well-respected scientist at the National Institutes of Health, who is also Jewish and participates simply to get back at the Germans
Barry - an all-out beer gaming champion who has since fallen on hard times and resorted to prostitution to make a living

The journey that these five men embark on is nothing if not funny, but if you didn't like the other Broken Lizard movies, I don't think you will like this one. It's in the same vein as movies like Old School and Super Troopers--a buddy comedy with plenty of T&A. The humor is a bit over the top at times and balances precariously on the edge of crass. For instance, there were at least five topless women within the first fifteen minutes of the film and there's a running joke that Jan and Todd's Great Gam Gam is a former whore.

Still, I found parts of Beerfest extremely funny and there were definitely moments I laughed out loud. This movie evoked memories of college with its references to beer pong, quarters, card games, chugging contests, and funnels. It would be fun for a guy's night out, but be forewarned that all the drinking in the movie may make you decidedly thirsty. The first thing I did when I left the theater was head to the pub.

A priest tries to extort money using violence....a man chugs three beers before killing himself by pulling the plug at his own funeral....women tear off other women's clothes while pouring beer on each other....a kid gets run over by a barrel, and I can't really remember after having a few too many but I believe the meaning of life and the key to enlightenment are revealed...and that's all in the first five freakin' minutes.

Maybe once or twice have I laughed harder at the movies than I did when I saw BEERFEST, which deserves print in ALL capital letters. My only regret was that I didn't smuggle in a sixer of 2 by 4s to drink with the mates. Broken Lizard regains the fine form of SuperTroopers.

As another reviewer put it: "The sage and bountiful Loveables who run Time Warner made this incredibly benign, sagacious and wise movie full of acute acting and takes a hardy approach to drinking, which can make family functions bearable, lives worth living and toasts to one's health. The studio should be commended for making this Oscar caliber film."

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 107 reviews  3.8 out of 5 stars