Saturday Stu and Tif joined Jenn and I in checking out The Dukes of Hazzard.

I didn’t go in expecting too much. I was a fan of the show even when I was a little kid, but knowing that the whole thing revolves around escaping the county sheriff by jumping your car over the local ravine didn’t seem like it was going to lend itself to film too well - I mean, it’s a great, fun show, but a movie?

They rocked the house with this one.

Again, keep in mind that a Dukes movie has to address certain points:

• Boss Hogg is a rich, greedy asshole
• Sheriff Coltrane is Boss Hogg’s pawn and doesn’t actually uphold any laws
• Cooter fixes the General Lee
• Fight breaks out at the Boar’s Nest
• Daisy looks hot and kicks someone’s ass
• Poorly conceived jailbreak
• Car chases, several jumps
• Something goes down involving Uncle Jesse
• Random freeze-frame in the middle of a climactic moment with the narrator saying something that would lead you into commercial

All points were addressed, and the cast did an excellent job. I particularly loved Burt Reynolds as Boss Hogg - he updated the character and really just executed it with style.

Something I didn’t get, which was funny but didn’t really have bearing on the show (so far as I recall)… They really played up how Bo always drives the car and loves the General Lee but never gets a girl, and Luke gets all the girls but doesn’t know how to drive. Maybe that’s something they sort of inferred from the show that I guess I missed, but they really played it up like it was a major part of the series.

I would be remiss in failing to mention how hot Jessica Simpson is in this one. She may or may not be dumb as a box of hammers, but she is fiiiiiine.

Stu says he’s going to buy it when it comes out on DVD. I’m not sure if I’ll buy it or not, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. Several laughs, great excitement. If I see it on the “previously viewed” rack for a discount, I’ll grab it. Do you have to see it in the theater? No - there really weren’t any scenes that required a big screen. But do see it, especially if you liked the show. It’s a great time.