Some Reasons to Believe in Hot Rod

Jul 25, 2007,

Editor's Note: We have fun when our writers tussle. Here's a completely opposite view of Hot Rod if this one turns out not to suit your fancy.

In a summer fraught with more rabidly anticipated releases than J.K. Rowlings' noggin (zing! I totally went there!), it's easy for a few flicks to get lost in the marketing blitz shuffle. After all, Transformers, Die Hard: Live Free or Die Hard, Harry Potter, Spider-Man 3, Ocean's 13, and whatever else you'd care to name, have already come and gone, and as soon as The Simpsons hits this weekend (followed by the Bourne thing and then Superbad), I'm guessing the nation at large is gonna take a big, collective breather and agree to rest up and not get as excited about anything again until Indy 4.

Ah, but hold on a sec, America.

Ready ... set ...

Hot Rod!

Now, I'm not necessarily saying this is gonna blow your mind. Heck, I'm as nervous about it as anybody. A stuntman comedy? Hmm.

But I am necessarily saying it might.

See, the extent to which you enjoy (or don't) Hot Rod might well be accurately predicted by your response to these guys.

Of course, you may already be well acquainted with The Lonely Island. If so, I send you an in spirit high-five and commend you. If not, you may at least recognize the big-haired fella from any number of SNL shorts (look here and here), most likely you've seen such massive hits as "Lazy Sunday," "D_ck in a Box," "A Day in the Life of Natalie Portman," or "The Shooting."

Before they plied their trade at 30 Rock, though, they were the Island, west coast filmmakers/comedians/musicians getting their internet celebrity on and building an impressive (if notably un-family-friendly) cache of short films, hooky rap tracks, music videos, and more. If you're new to it all, it might be best for you to find your own way, decide what you like and what you don't without any outside influence. If, however, you'd like a few suggestions, I can happily point you in the direction of homemade The O.C. parody "The 'Bu," music videos "Ka-Blamo!" and "Bing Bong Brothers," and longer bits "Regarding Ardy," and "Awesometown." More? Check out Andy Samberg on Comedy Central, and these two harder-to-find (and potentially rather offensive) treasures. Also, listen to every song. Trust me.

Now, I'm not gonna pretend I knew about 'em way back when. It took the inspired "Sunday," back in December of '05, to get me hip to The Dudes (The Lonely Island's alias name) particular brand of sweet-ass and to send me searching for more. And, God's truth, it was through TLI that I discovered the mind-blowing wonders of YouTube, Creative Commons, and Channel 101. I'm forever grateful.

I may not have sufficiently concealed my particular The Lonely Island/Hot Rod feelings so far, and I don't want to give it away much more, so I'll simply say this: if I were presently in a middle-school math class, I would, instead of heeding assorted wisdoms about y-values and polynomials, be carefully and repeatedly etching "The Lonely Island Hearts Brian" and "Brian VillaLonelyIsland" in my sweet marble notebook. My parents would catch my Algebra grade slipping, ground me from the internet for a month, and my mom would come into my room and (a little over dramatically, really) tear down all my oversized Tiger Beat posters. I'd scream "I hate you! You ruined my life!" and run sobbing through the front door and down the street, carrying only my piqued sense of burning humiliation and a Sailor Moon fanny pack stuffed hastily with crew socks and a change of underwear.

(I'd be back, though. I love my parents. We just see things so differently sometimes. When I'm 13.)

(Ahem.)

Go see Hot Rod.

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Brian Villalobos lives in Austin, Texas (practically), writes on film and TV, and totally cried at Stuart Little.
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