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Without a Paddle

EMAILPRINTParamount Pictures

Without a Paddle reviews
29
7.0 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 27 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 34 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy

Written by: Jay Leggett
Mitch Rouse
Fred Wolf, Harris Goldberg and Tom Nursall (story)

Directed by: Steven Brill

Release Date:
Theatrical: August 20, 2004
DVD: January 11, 2005

Running Time: 97 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for drug content, sexual material, language, crude humor and some violence

Starring Seth Green, Matthew Lillard, Dax Shepard, Ethan Suplee, Abraham Benrubi, Rachel Blanchard, and Burt Reynolds

This comic adventure begins when three childhood buddies decide to pursue their boyhood dream of finding legendary bank robber DB Cooper's stash in the Oregon wilderness. (Paramount Pictures)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

67

Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown

There are some genuinely clever moments of physical comedy, and the inevitable crudeness is offset by winning whimsy. Without has all the freshness of moldering Playboys stashed under a mattress, but it evokes what few boys-will-be-boys larks can: chumminess.

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58

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Extremely dumb, sporadically funny.

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50

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

Dax Shepard from MTV's "Punk'd," in his first major big-screen role, steals Without a Paddle. Not that it's too hard to do.

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50

Washington Post Sara Gebhardt

The cheesy, unconvincing moments centered on the characters' serious discussions of life and friendship really seem unnatural and ruin the flow of the physical comedy.

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50

Variety Dennis Harvey

An unstable -- if mostly painless -- mix of low comedy, stabs at higher silliness, and schmaltz.

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50

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

There are a few gross-out laughs, but Without a Paddle's gang-written script doesn't know what it wants to be.

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50

New York Post Megan Lehmann

A likable trio of actors struggles valiantly but ultimately fails to keep this dopey buddy comedy afloat.

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50

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Even in a world where stupidity mixed with cliche is all too often mistaken for humor, this movie barely meets expectations.

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40

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

While the likable Seth Green, Matthew Lillard and Dax Shepard are definitely up to the comic excursion, the picture charts an uncertain course between wild and mild, eventually running aground in a pile of male-bonding muck.

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40

LA Weekly Robert Abele

Burt Reynolds, whose near-vaudevillian comic timing, is refreshing but not enough to carry the picture.

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40

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Despite some agreeably idiotic moments, Without a Paddle is also mostly without a rudder. Its few memorable highlights end up floating haplessly in a genial but uninspired and watery plot.

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40

TV Guide Angel Cohn

Bart the Bear shows more versatility in his gender-bending role than Lillard, who trots out his old, tired slacker shtick.

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38

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

This so-called comedy is a frayed string of anxious jokes about whether male bonding is manly or sissy.

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38

Chicago Tribune Sid Smith

Led by a trio of dumb, dumber and dumbest, Without a Paddle is a testosterone comedy that might just as well be titled "Without a Brain Cell."

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38

USA Today Claudia Puig

In a summer filled with dumb comedies, this might prove to be the dumbest. Think "Road Trip" meets "City Slickers." Then dial the humor down a few notches, and you're left Without a Paddle.

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30

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

Every situation, every bit of dialogue, comes straight out of the Big Book of Movie Clichés.

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30

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Buddy comedies rely heavily on their leads' chemistry, and in this regard, Without A Paddle fails.

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30

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Pushes its ugly humor further than most.

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30

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Aside from a few good zingers the humor is crude and homophobic, and you could drive an ATV through the holes in the plot.

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25

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Yet another raunchy, gross-out farce, this one about smart-alecky city boys who have wacky adventures while exposing themselves in -- I mean to -- the great outdoors.

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25

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Never quite as dumb as "Harold & Kumar," but it's nowhere near as smart, and that's what kills it.

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20

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

At least it cares enough to steal from the very best. Unfortunately, that's about all it cares about.

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20

Village Voice Mark Holcomb

Burt Reynolds turns up as scruffy mountain man, sparking unfulfilled expectations of some primo Deliverance jokes.

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20

Empire Adam Smith

Disappointing.

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20

Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman

Well, incredibly stupid is certainly what is delivered to audiences.

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12

ReelViews James Berardinelli

So bad that it will annoy and/or bore those who have minimal standards and a high tolerance for sewage.

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11

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Director Brill makes no stylistic advances from his recent work with Adam Sandler (Little Nicky, Mr. Deeds), and shows no signs of seeking growth or improvement.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 34 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Steve P. gave it a9:
I don't understand why critics hate this type of film. It was fun, comidic, and at times suprisingly exciting. The meaning, thought light, is not a half bad one. The action was good. Thought it was not a roll on the floor comidy, like Dodge Ball, it was funny. Give this film a chance.

Joshua H. gave it a7:
Despite it's shortcomings, this is truly a good movie. Not only is there a buddy film here, but a couple of good lessons, a couple of hotties in a tree, and a couple of gruesom redneck villians. Poop jokes and potfields aside, I enjoyed the film.

Mark B. gave it a7:
This buddy comedy/ slapstick extravaganza/ coming-to-maturity meditation/ Deliverance parody was more or less thrown away by Paramount near the end of summer 2004...and I think even they were surprised at how long its box office legs ended up being compared to expectations. Deservedly so, I think; despite the mostly silly resumes of its three leads (Seth Green in the Austin Powers movies, Matthew Lillard in the Scooby-Doos and Dax Shepard in Punk'd) I was nicely surprised to see them working together realistically as actors rather than as comedians hogging the spotlight; they really did seem as though they'd known each other a lifetime. Lots of early 1980s culture--movies, music and sports--is cannily and amusingly referenced, but interestingly one 80s film that isn't mentioned is The Big Chill, though it may certainly be implied: the fourth pal, Billy, is like Chill's Alex in that his death forces the rest of the gang, now thirtysomethings, to evaluate their lives and make some decisions as they embark on one last quest to find legendary thief D. B. Cooper's hidden swag. Lightly enjoyable until the guys encounter some vicious pot farmers (the equivalent of moonshiners in 1970s drive-in fare), a couple of spacey nature chicks and Burt Reynolds as Grizzly Adams Redux, and then often utterly hilarious after, Without A Paddle does what it does well, and is what it is: a modest pleasure. Having said that, I have to also admit that the trio spends far, far too much screen time in just their skivvies than I needed to see, and that Adam Sandler director Steven Brill (Mr. Deeds, Little Nicky) really didn't have any call to pay tribute to the most notorious scene in Big Daddy, an even worse Sandler flick he may have WISHED he'd done, by including the three in a group-whizz-as-male-bonding sequence.

Marcus M gave it a3:
A few Really GOOD laughs, but overall worth skipping. You'll catch the best parts of this movie in the trailor.

cailyn k gave it a10:
Greatest movie ive seen in a long time. some people just dont know how to laugh when it comes to GOOD comedy.

bobbie g gave it a10:
I liked this movie because it reminded me of alot of my friends and the things that we may do like that.

emily s. gave it a10:
The funniest film i have seen in a long time. i have seen 3 screenings of it and the audience were cracking up in all of them.

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