Tucker and Dale vs Evil | Eastern North Carolina Now

    
Misdirection is the Key Ingredient in this Dark Comedy

    What could be cast about as a "slasher movie" meets mindless college coeds one drunken weekend in the high hills of West Virginia is, actually, just one well written, well-paced dark comedy that is more funny than grotesque, and let's be clear about this: The film is maddeningly grotesque.

    The film begins just as one would expect of a typical film within the "slasher" genre; however, there is one big exception - the much anticipated hillbilly / redneck antagonistic murderers are actually nice guys. They are just egregiously misunderstood.

    They look the part well enough, with Dale, played by Tyler Labine, perfecting the slack-jawed persona of a West Virginia hayseed, and Dale's close cohort, Tucker, portrayed by Alan Tudyk, performed well his role of the ostensible redneck slasher by employing the stern deliberate squint of an apparent sociopath. Conversely, the obvious difference is that, while these two backwater boys certainly retain an obvious local flavor, they're both genuinely nice guys. Good friends, good people, no ostentatious regrets, just regular uncomplicated folks. They just look the part of hillbilly / redneck antagonistic murderers.
Tucker: "He's heavy for half a guy."

    This obvious misdirection of character cast against type is the clear crux of this film written and directed by Eli Craig, with help on the screenplay from Morgan Jurgenson. This is the center plot of this extra-humorous film, with its laughs, drawn from a willing audience, coming in quickening intervals as the pace winds down to a completely unanticipated conclusion.

    The film is at its core, and I obviously can't say this enough, a well-paced, well written story that keeps the audience totally invested in its outcome, which I found very dark and most hilarious. The misdirection of character did work, but only because the originators of this funny film had the presence of creative mind to properly play the antagonists off these most unusual protagonists - Tucker and Dale. Enter the college coeds.
College coed, Chad, played by Jesse Moss, is the atypical nemesis to the docile Tucker and Dale: Above. Just the frightened expression in the faces of Dale (left) and Tucker (right) leads one to question: Who are the real victims here? Here below.

    Director / Screenwriter Eli Craig did present the perfect large, happy and demographically diverse gaggle of coeds as the unlikely protagonists. These college coeds are on a holiday into hell, but they have no perceptible idea that they will be at the center of this maelstrom, which is built less on these protagonists' sinister motives, but more on their "Darwin Club" level of abject stupidity. Stupid is not always funny, but it is here since the story is so cohesively constructed against type by Director / Screenwriter Craig.

    These well educated idiots are the perfect foil for the docile Tucker and Dale, which begins early on, in this film of a perfectly paced 89 minutes. They meet at a local roadside store, with its noticeable trappings of a "Deliverance" styled setting, complete with the outrageous indigenous "porch monkeys," and the boy at the adjacent hand-pump that may grow up one day to become, well ... a full grown Tucker, or a Dale.

    The assemblage of college coeds are on their way to the local mountain lake, with full intention to partake, party, and just destroy as many of their brain cells as is possible. Seemingly just normal kids.

    Tucker and Dale, serendipitously, are also on their way to the same lake, where they are there to do some fixing on Tucker's recently purchased "fixer-upper" "vacation home." The college coeds happen upon the misunderstood "Deliverance" duo at that roadside store, with disastrous effects.
Allison, played by Katrina Bowden, explains her nearsighted prejudices to Dale: Above. Allison is brought back to Tucker's "fixer-upper" "vacation home" after she stupidly cracks her head open jumping into shallow water at the lake. Dale actually saves her from drowning, which leads to the impending misimpression of events by the stoned-stupid college coeds: Below.

    Dale immediately becomes smitten with one of the coeds, Allison, played by the relatively lovely Katrina Bowden (the similarly lovely Cerie of TV's "30 Rock"). Tucker encourages Dale to approach the provocatively dressed Allison, not because he has a purient interest in observing his fast friend fall flat on his near expressionless face, but rather, conversely, because he genuinely cares about Dale's happiness. This is one's first clue that these two hayseeds (Tucker and Dale) may look the part of the malevolent, perverted rednecks reminiscent of, once again, the iconic "Deliverance," but rather, they are just extra-normal locals, quite misunderstood.

    The misunderstanding of relative culture here is not helped when the off-and-on simple Dale walks up to speak with the comely Allison, stumbling all over his words, and himself, all-the-while, he is holding a work implement, a razor sharp sickle, which, inadvertently, delivers the wrong impression to the erstwhile culture shocked college coeds.

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( October 3rd, 2011 @ 4:04 pm )
 
One of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time...



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