Strange Wilderness With a plethora of funny actors, Strange Wilderness should have been a sidesplitting comedy but instead it was a flop, disappointing and at times confusing.

Peter Gaulke (Steve Zahn) is the host of a wild animal television show that was once his fathers. The show is not credited, and is often viewed as a joke, due to its lame and simplistic explanations of wild animals. With ratings dropping drastically, the network cancels Peter's show, in favour of another wilderness program. After an old friend comes forward with photographs of “Big Foot,” Peter decides that finding this mythical creature is his chance to prove to the network that his show should go on and be given a prime time slot. His mixed group of friends, who are also his crew include Fred Wolf (Allen Covert), Cooker (Jonah Hill), Whitaker (Kevin Heffernan), Danny Guiterrez (Peter Dante), Cheryl (Ashley Scott) and Junior (Justin Long). Peter unites his crew for their most exciting journey yet.


I was expecting a lot from this movie and I was very disappointed. First off, it is a Happy Madison Productions movie (Adam Sandler's company), and although the comedy in the other movies done by that company (Little Nicky, 50 First Dates, Grandma's Boy, and The Benchwarmers, just to name a few), are juvenile, and crude, they are still very funny. This movie was not. There are few times that I remember laughing, and it was more like an awkward laugh, or a little “haha.” Nothing overzealous or typical to Adam Sandler's films.

Secondly, there were so many funny actors in this movie you would expect to literally spend the entire movie laughing your ass off. The actors that you would expect a lot from include Jonah Hill (Superbad), Justin Long (Accepted, Mac commercials) and Steve Zahn (Sahara). Along side them were the two actors that appear in almost every Adam Sandler movie, Allen Covert and Peter Dante, as well as funny guy Kevin Heffernan (Super Troopers). With this mixer of natural and sarcastic comedians, the movie should have been hilarious.

Unfortunately, maybe that was the problem. Too many people competing for the funny lines. The movie felt like it was trying too hard to be funny, and it just wasn't working. To add to that, the plot was jumpy, confusing, and the movie ended very strangely. I was a little stunned leaving the theatre.

As a lesson to myself, I shouldn't go into a movie with too high of expectations, because that also could be why I was so incredibly disappointed. I recommend this movie to people who have enjoyed the previous works of said actors, and don't have high expectations.

Final Words: Saw it. Didn't like it. Am hoping that this is not a trend for future movies to come from these actors and Happy Madison Productions.