The Slammin' Salmon
What?
Slammin’ Salmon is ex heavy weight champ of the world, his boxing days behind him he now owns a high end restaurant in Miami. The staff of the joint are an eclectic bunch of characters, there is the swath fake tanned lathario, the new ‘drunk on the job’ bus boy and his twin brother the crazy head chef, the clever med student waitress, the ‘forgetting to take his meds’ nuts/zongo and the typical actor/waiter. When Slammin’ Salmon loses a bet to a Yakuza Kingpin and has to find 20K fast he turns to his ineffectual restaurant manager Karl and sets him the task of raising the cash in one night. But with 13K being the record takings for the eaterie, Karl has to think on his feet and goes about setting up a competition between the waiters and waitress to achieve their target.
The latest movie from the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, I am pleased to report is pretty good. I must confess to not having seen their previous out put - Super Troopers and Beer Fest - but having seen the trailers for them they did seem to be channelling some of that late seventies, early eighties screwball Saturday Night Live vibe, which appealed and continues in Salmon. Slammin’ Salmon is an ensemble piece, and as is always the case with ensembles, there is a balance that needs to be maintained to ensure that each character has his or her moments. If this balance is off it can mean that characters feel one dimensional, fading into the background, while one or two shine in the limelight. The balance here is spot on, with each character having their own quirks and laugh out loud scenes. I particularly liked Nuts/Zongo, who was funny in either of his guises and April Bowlby’s turn as the ballerina waitress is great, but the real surprise is Michael Clark Duncan who proves to be a great comedian. Whether he is mispronouncing words or intimidating staff, whenever he is on screen the movie is funnier - check out the flashback to his wedding speech - absolute class. The structure is one of classic farce, with each scene, and in turn plot, slowly escalating, and information mentioned earlier on paying off later, until ultimately everything comes to a head. Director Heffernan handles proceedings well, the pacing at times is frenetic, but this is countered by some softer moments. This being the Broken Lizard guys these softer moments are never in danger of dipping into sentimentality, and while I wouldn’t call this a gross out comedy, there are one or two satisfyingly shocking moments. As events unfold over one night, and in one interior location, it does feel a little like a sitcom at times, but this is a minor quibble with an otherwise solid comedy ensemble piece.
Optics:
The print is nice and clean, with no distracting artefacts or edge enhancement to speak of. Detail and clarity are not exceptional, but the vibrant colour reproduction more than makes up for it, creating a bright and breezy image that compliments and adds to the feel of the movie.
Sonics:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix comes almost exclusively from the front soundstage, with little use, save for ambience effects, of the surrounds or sub. This didn't detract from the material, dialogue was clear and locked to centre, and there were one or two steering effects with the quick pans, that worked well; certainly not one to test a new set up with, but adequate none the less.
Extras:
The extras on offer here are woefully poor - a thirty second intro by one of the Lizards to their show, caught on a phone by the looks of things, is lumped together with a video of the rest of the Lizards talking briefly about when they all used to work in restaurants; the trailer completes the set.
Well?
So, no moulds are broken and no new ground is found, but if you are after a good solid comedy with a few genuine yuks and some likeable characters, you could do a lot worse than check out Slammin’ Salmon.
Kris Williams
Slammin’ Salmon is ex heavy weight champ of the world, his boxing days behind him he now owns a high end restaurant in Miami. The staff of the joint are an eclectic bunch of characters, there is the swath fake tanned lathario, the new ‘drunk on the job’ bus boy and his twin brother the crazy head chef, the clever med student waitress, the ‘forgetting to take his meds’ nuts/zongo and the typical actor/waiter. When Slammin’ Salmon loses a bet to a Yakuza Kingpin and has to find 20K fast he turns to his ineffectual restaurant manager Karl and sets him the task of raising the cash in one night. But with 13K being the record takings for the eaterie, Karl has to think on his feet and goes about setting up a competition between the waiters and waitress to achieve their target.
The latest movie from the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, I am pleased to report is pretty good. I must confess to not having seen their previous out put - Super Troopers and Beer Fest - but having seen the trailers for them they did seem to be channelling some of that late seventies, early eighties screwball Saturday Night Live vibe, which appealed and continues in Salmon. Slammin’ Salmon is an ensemble piece, and as is always the case with ensembles, there is a balance that needs to be maintained to ensure that each character has his or her moments. If this balance is off it can mean that characters feel one dimensional, fading into the background, while one or two shine in the limelight. The balance here is spot on, with each character having their own quirks and laugh out loud scenes. I particularly liked Nuts/Zongo, who was funny in either of his guises and April Bowlby’s turn as the ballerina waitress is great, but the real surprise is Michael Clark Duncan who proves to be a great comedian. Whether he is mispronouncing words or intimidating staff, whenever he is on screen the movie is funnier - check out the flashback to his wedding speech - absolute class. The structure is one of classic farce, with each scene, and in turn plot, slowly escalating, and information mentioned earlier on paying off later, until ultimately everything comes to a head. Director Heffernan handles proceedings well, the pacing at times is frenetic, but this is countered by some softer moments. This being the Broken Lizard guys these softer moments are never in danger of dipping into sentimentality, and while I wouldn’t call this a gross out comedy, there are one or two satisfyingly shocking moments. As events unfold over one night, and in one interior location, it does feel a little like a sitcom at times, but this is a minor quibble with an otherwise solid comedy ensemble piece.
Optics:
The print is nice and clean, with no distracting artefacts or edge enhancement to speak of. Detail and clarity are not exceptional, but the vibrant colour reproduction more than makes up for it, creating a bright and breezy image that compliments and adds to the feel of the movie.
Sonics:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix comes almost exclusively from the front soundstage, with little use, save for ambience effects, of the surrounds or sub. This didn't detract from the material, dialogue was clear and locked to centre, and there were one or two steering effects with the quick pans, that worked well; certainly not one to test a new set up with, but adequate none the less.
Extras:
The extras on offer here are woefully poor - a thirty second intro by one of the Lizards to their show, caught on a phone by the looks of things, is lumped together with a video of the rest of the Lizards talking briefly about when they all used to work in restaurants; the trailer completes the set.
Well?
So, no moulds are broken and no new ground is found, but if you are after a good solid comedy with a few genuine yuks and some likeable characters, you could do a lot worse than check out Slammin’ Salmon.
Kris Williams
Director:
Kevin Heffernan
Starring:
Michael Clarke Duncan
Nat Faxon
Cobie Smulders
Best line:
Tagline:
"Bring a Bib, It’s Gonna Get Messy."
Description:
Anchor Bay
R2
Rated 15
1Hr 35 Mins
1.78:1
(Anamorphic)
Dolby Digital 5.1
Show Intro
Cast interviews
Trailers
Ratings: (Out of 5)
Film 3.5
Optics 3.0
Sonics 3.0
Extras 1.0
Overall 3.5
