The Broken Lizard gang is back in theaters with “Club Dread,” the third film from the comedy troupe. For those of you that are not familiar with Broken Lizard, they are the people that made the cult hit comedy “Super Troopers.” Unfortunately, “Super Troopers” casts a pretty big shadow on its new little brother.
“Club Dread” takes place on Coconut Pete’s Pleasure Island, a tropical resort run by a washed-up Jimmy Buffet clone played to perfection by Bill Paxton (“Weird Science,” “Twister,” “Apollo 13”).
All starts off well for the partiers until members of the resort’s staff start dying at the hands of a mysterious, machete-wielding madman.
The killer leaves messages for the staff in the form of quotes from one of Coconut Pete’s songs that lead to a corny but well played whodunit mystery. As more staffers die, paranoia takes its toll on the survivors. More plot twists lead to an almost Scooby-Doo type ending with a generous helping of gore and gratuitous nudity.
Those expecting another “Super Troopers” will be a little let down. “Club Dread” is a slasher movie with a healthy dose of comedy and genre parody. You will laugh, but don’t expect to see the gags that made “Super Troopers” as funny as it was.
The Broken Lizard cast also seemed to lack some of the chemistry that was so strong in “Super Troopers.” This may be because the characters aren’t friends like in the other movies. In fact, the Broken Lizard boys seemed to have much more chemistry with Paxton and Brittany Daniel (“Joe Dirt”), who plays the island’s oversexed aerobics instructor, than they ever show with each other.
The characters are not as strong as the ones in “Super Troopers” either. Jay Chandrasekhar, who also directed the movie, plays Putman the tennis pro that sports massive dreadlocks and a cheap British accent. Kevin Heffernan, Farva from “Super Troopers,” gets the meatiest role as Lars the masseur. The other characters are almost complete throw-aways.
What “Club Dread” does have going for it are some great one-liners and hilarious resort-based gags. The resort has a hedge maze that is used for live action Pac-Man with bikini clad hotties as ghosts and alcoholic drinks as power pellets. The “Fun Police” roam the club with water guns filled with tequila and Coconut Pete performs his hit songs (such as Pina-Coladaburg) around the campfire at night.
All told, “Club Dread” is a good mass murder comedy (if that is possible), but weighed down by two-dimensional characters and the expectations of “Super Trooper” fans. It could be better, but it also could be a whole lot worse. For gratuitous nudity and more lighthearted violence than “The Passion,” I give “Club Dread” three out of five blood-soaked Hawaiian shirts.
