Judging by the trailer, this looked to be a forgettable farce that would serve only to reinforce the commonly-held notion among cinephiles that Seth Green’s film career is the film gods’ way of punishing us for some uncertain past sin. Ah, but sometimes looks are a bit deceiving, and so it is with this surprisingly, uh, OK film from director Steven Brill. Surprising not only in that Brill’s previous two efforts — “Mr. Deeds” and “Little Nicky” — have been anything but OK, but that the diminutive Green is pretty darn good here as well.
“Without a Paddle” is certainly far from great, but it keeps its distance from awful as well. And that’s saying something, given that quality is not the hallmark of August releases.
Green, Matthew Lillard and Dax Shepard (of “Punk’d” infamy) star as three lifelong friends who go on a canoe trip in search of lost treasure and wind up discovering a lot more than they bargained for about each other. City slickers answering the call of the wild is a conventional premise, to be sure, but the writing (the screenplay is credited to Jay Leggett and Mitch Rouse) is lively at times and the performances winning. Lillard, especially, is on the mark here, though it’s difficult to hear him speak without being reminded of Shaggy.
A great many gags pander to the homophobic instincts of the young male audience Brill et al hope to lure to the theaters, but nothing overtly offensive made the cut. Burt Reynolds, who was stranded in the wilderness (and in much more dire straits) in the seminal 1972 film “Deliverance,” is amusing as Del Knox, a recluse who’s been hiding in the Pacific Northwest for 30 years. Further strengthening the homage to John Boorman’s classic are Ethan Suplee and Abraham Benrubi as a pair of lawless cretins who would like nothing more than to make our heroes squeal like pigs. Weeeee! (Rated PG-13 for drug content, sexual material, language, crude humor and some violence. Running time: 95 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 20, 2004. Read the original PDF.