Sometimes people confuse the term "stoner movie" for any movie that has someone getting high in it, even if that's not the focus of the film. Such is the case with 2008's "Strange Wilderness". Before seeing this film I saw a few reviews that referred to it as a "stoner movie", which turned me off of it a little bit. However I still saw it, and it's not a "stoner movie".
This film did a good amount of things right, but it also did a few things wrong at the same time.
I'll start with the good, as to not drag anyone down. The voice overs during the old footage of animals is hilarious, and the footage mixing is equally good. Some of the jokes are genuinely funny, albeit a little low-brow at times. Some of the actors played their roles perfectly. Steve Zahn plays Peter with a great passion, or as much passion as a guy like Peter could be played with. Jonah Hill(of Superbad fame) is great as a wise-cracking jack-ass who doesn't really seem to care that much about the show he works for. Robert Patrick(T-1000 from T-2 and older brother of Filter frontman Richard Patrick) has a short part, but it's memerable. A crazed ex-Vietnam vet with some interesting scars seems like a great role for him, and he pulls it off. Ashley Scott(The Kingdom, Just Friends) plays the only real lead female role, and seems to hold her own well enough amongst the guys. She's more or less just some eye candy, which is good that they didn't muddle up the script with some love story between her and Peter. The use of old footage from the original "Strange Wilderness" show at the beginning to sort of set up the film is a good touch, although not really played off of enough to be too effective.
Now for the bad, and I hate doing this part of reviews sometimes. The film is too damn short, only clocking in at about a hour and a half. This may just be me nitpicking, but I expect major hollywood films to at least clock in at 2 hours to be considered "feature length". If not, then it's just a short film to me. Another downer was the rest of the cast, they really didn't stand out at all to me. Justin Long(Live Free or Die Hard) just plays your stereotypical stoner with no clue as to what's going on. Allen Covert(Happy Gilmore) has done some good stuff, like the aformentioned Happy Gilmore, and this film just seemed like her wasn't all that excited to do it. Something else that made this movie difficult to watch(in more ways then one, you'll see) is the high number to male genetal jokes. Be it a joy buzzer to a man's crotch several times, a Turkey attack, or something involving tribal types, there are just way too many. I, personally, cringed at most of them just because I know that sort of thing would hurt like all hell, and I did not need to see it happening. Again the old footage at the beginning wasn't played on enough, which bugged me.
As with any film, some things you see in the trailer aren't there. Fear not, though, the shark with the teeth and the laughing is there, and it's actually a lot funnier on a big screen. There is, however, a lot of breasts(even Ashley Scott's are there for a second) in this film.
If you don't like short films with a few missed jokes, some uninspired acting, male genetal pain, and breats then this might not be the movie for you. If you're looking for some cheap laughs then this would be a great movie, if it didn't cost $9 a pop to see it. I'd say you'd be better off waiting until it comes out on DVD and just renting it, save a few bucks at least.