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Director:
Todd Phillips

Starring:
Ben Stiller
Owen Wilson
Snoop Dogg
Fred Williamson
Vince Vaughn
Juliette Lewis

Release: 5 Mar. 04
IMDb

Few shows feel as dated upon reruns as Starsky & Hutch, which is likely the very reason that Warner Bros. felt it could be turned into some kitschy, quasi-nostalgia, quasi-ridicule venture for Zoolander costars Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. I doubt Sanford and Son starring Bernie Mac and Cederic the Entertainer and Cagney & Lacy starring Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch are being greenlit.

I find it hard to completely fault Starsky & Hutch for what is a hit-and-miss film. The laughs struggle come out, even if the two stars play incredibly well together. At moments, the thing feels forced (never more than the cameos by series stars Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul), but when the film works, it’s dynamite. A scene near the end, as Stiller’s Starsky loses himself in a ridiculous New Jersey persona with the mantra “Do it!” is a giddy pleasure to admire, an astringent for the flaccid, weak characters Stiller played as of late. For a moment, he seems to have returned to the old days of Mission: Improbable’s Tom Crooze.

Complacent where it needs biting satire, Starsky & Hutch isn’t much a film other than a reminder of what worked so much better in Zoolander. That said, it’s better than watching an episode of the show, though that’s not saying much.