bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Clarence Tsui

Starring: John Travolta, Tim Allen,  Martin Lawrence, William H. Macy

Director: Walt Becker

Category: IIA

Wild Hogs has at its centre an issue  that's always ripe for satire: the crisis faced by modern men as  their authority is rendered increasingly obsolete,  leaving them little but a desperate nostalgia for the good old days of their youth.

Rather than parodying such sentiments,  Walt Becker's film  laughs with, rather than at,  his characters, making Wild Hogs  sadly dated.

Wild Hogs   revolves around a motorcycle road  trip across America that's intended to salvage the characters' self-esteem - but it's  inspired more by comedy than Kerouac.

In the world inhabited by the four middle- aged, middle-class protagonists - Doug the dentist (Tim Allen), Woody the has-been media guru (John Travolta), Bobby the drain-cleaner (Martin Lawrence) and Dudley the computer geek (William H. Macy) - women  are cliches.

They're either motherly (Doug's diet-imposing wife), monstrous (Woody's ex-wife, who  wants huge alimony payments) or materialistic (Bobby's high-flying executive wife who forces him back to work from his sabbatical  writing a book).  Gays or effeminate men are disparaged as a challenge to  masculinity.

What emerges out of the chaotic journey from Cincinnati to Los Angeles (where the triumphant four  are shown ogling bikini-clad women  more times than  necessary) is a jumble of infantile explorations of the vitality they lost  on the road to middle-age, and a series of gags  (gall bladder problems feature large)  that are  neither original or funny. And the film's climax,   involving a real biker gang,  is a hackneyed anti-climax.

Although there are  moments  that will make  even the most  hardened sceptic smile,   one of Wild Hogs'  biggest problems is  that it's neither a  cutting critique of masculinity nor all-out, hilarious entertainment.   In the end, Wild Hogs is neither here nor there.

Wild Hogs opens today



Wild Hogs