Entertainment, Movies - Army Times

‘Hogs’ slow to get its motor running

“Wild Hogs” has to be one of the most jarring juxtapositions of A-list actors and a Z-list script ever to hit the big screen.

Where else are you going to see Oscar winner Marisa Tomei — still twice as cute as a box full of puppies — dancing in a cowgirl outfit at a chili festival, and Oscar nominee William H. Macy baring his pale, pasty buttocks in a skinny-dipping scene?

The plot is pure Disney hokum. Four pals — a computer geek (Macy), a boastful windbag (John Travolta), a milquetoast dentist (Tim Allen) and a henpecked plumber (Martin Lawrence) — are middle-aged couch potatoes whose only excitement comes from donning the colors of their self-styled motorcycle “gang” once a week and cruising down to their local bar for a brew or two.

Bored senseless, they decide to try to recapture their glory days on a road trip across America.

For the first half of the film, it’s a long, lame journey to nowhere. Then, defying all expectations, the movie finds a groove — an utterly stupid groove, but a groove just the same — when the boys clash with the Del Fuegos, a real motorcycle gang led by grungy Ray Liotta, who doesn’t look kindly on suburban posers.

The big showdown plays out amid the panicked citizenry of a small town (including Tomei) and features a wickedly cool cameo by a certain legendary “Easy Rider.” That’s capped by a closing-credits scene as clever as it is surreal, with the Del Fuegos getting a visit from — I kid you not — Ty Pennington and his “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” crew.

“Wild Hogs” is relentlessly goofy. But, wonder of wonders, the goofiness becomes just infectious enough to leave you chuckling on your way out of the octoplex.

2 ½ stars. Rated PG-13.

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