Product Description

Animal enthusiast Peter Gaulke (Steve Zahn) and his sidekick Fred Wolf (Allen Covert) host an ailing wildlife TV show "Strange Wilderness," which is in a steep ratings decline. Desperate to save the show, Peter hatches a Hail Mary scheme to find the one animal that could truly turn the show around and change the nature-show landscape forever – Bigfoot.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11325 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT PICTURES
• Released on: 2008-05-20
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 84 minutes

Amazon.com
As lunkhead comedies go, Strange Wilderness never creates the necessary frisson to keep a viewer engaged by the film’s endless parade of marijuana jokes, gross-out sight gags, and celebrations of rank stupidity. Which is too bad, because the cast would be ideal for a smarter version of a stupid movie, but they come off as largely wasted here. Steve Zahn (That Thing You Do) plays Peter Gaulke, heir to a wild animal television program called "Strange Wilderness," but too out of it to keep up his late father’s congenial yet focused legacy. With the show’s ratings plummeting (even at a 3 a.m. broadcast time), Peter attempts to rescue the series by traveling to Ecuador in search of Bigfoot. Accompanied by a crew of idiots (Allen Covert, Jonah Hill, Justin Long) and one comely lass (Ashley Scott of TV’s Jericho), Peter heads into one obstacle after another: sharks, piranha, pygmies, Mexican border guards, a crazy tracker (Robert Patrick), and a nitrous high. After awhile, the lowbrow hijinks all run together and one feels a bit trapped, desperately awaiting final credits. But there are a couple of recurring comic ideas that salvage the movie somewhat, especially the use of stock footage of animals accompanied by Peter’s absurd voiceovers. ("The shark can be found only in two places: the northern and southern hemispheres.") --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

inspired silliness
***1/2

"Strange Wilderness" is a good-natured, frequently hilarious takeoff on all those nature documentaries that play on the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, and whose pedigree stretches all the way back to the granddaddy of them all, "Mutual of Omaha`s Wild Kingdom." Peter and Fred are the producers of a wildlife series entitled "Strange Wilderness" that has been foundering in the ratings ever since Peter's father, a Steve Irwin-type naturist and the original host of the show, passed away, leaving his less-than-stellar son to carry on his legacy. The sheer scientific illiteracy of much of the commentary that Peter provides for his footage probably hasn't helped matters much in this regard. Now faced with the prospect of series cancellation, Peter and his crew of incompetent dweebs head off to the wilds of South America to file an exclusive report on the famed Bigfoot who has recently been spotted there.

Though adolescent in the extreme, "Strange Wilderness" turns out to be a zany, endearingly random and unflaggingly energetic little comedy whose likable cast is obviously dialed into what the moviemakers are trying to do here. Steve Zahn, Allen Covert, Covert, Ernest Borgnine, Jeff Garlin, Kevin Heffernan, Justin Long and Harry Hamlin seem to be having the time of their lives here and their enjoyment rubs off on us as well.

Is it dumb? Of course it is. Is it lowbrow, inane and hopelessly juvenile? You betcha'. But unlike so many other films that fall into those categories, "Strange Wilderness" has a shrewd mind for parody and a liveliness of spirit that actually make the movie funny. Credit scenarist Peter Gaulke and co-author/director Fred Wolf (who first developed this concept as sketches on "Saturday Night Live") for some excellent joke-writing and pacing and for their willingness to pull out all the stops in their effort to get the laugh. In fact, the crew's ill-fated encounter with Bigfoot is alone worth the price of admission.

Funniest movie in a long time!
I think these people giving this bad reviews are nuts! This is one of the funniest movies I have seen in a VERY long time!! I laughed the whole way through...and I didn't expect much and was more then surprised. You have to appreciate these actors for what they are, it's simple as that. You can tell there is some improv, and it works well. If you take this movie serious and can't let your hair down, then you might not like it. Otherwise, keep your ears open because there are some great one-liners!

BEARS DERIVE THEIR NAME FROM A FOOTBALL TEAM IN CHICAGO
I DONT WATCH MOVIES TO POINT OUT THEIR FAULTS, I WATCH MOVIES TO BE ENTERTAINED. THIS MOVIE WAS HALARIOUS. BEARS DERIVE THIER NAME FROM A FOOTBALL TEAM IN CHICAGO, MORE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED IN WORLD WAR 1 AND 2 COMBINED THAN HAVE BEEN KILLED BY BEARS. COMON THIS IS HALARIOUS. STEVE ZAHN IS A GREAT ACTOR AND THROWING IN THE REST OF ADAM SANDLERS BUDDIES, MADE IT EVEN BETTER. THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT WONT THINK THIS IS FUNNY ARE IN THERE 30'S AND ABOVE. I REALLY LOVED THE SHARK SCENE WHERE THEY ADDED A STUPID LAUGH FOR THE SHARK AND PLAYED IT OVER ABOUT 5 TIMES. I WOULD ABSOLUTLEY RECCOMEND THIS FOR ANYBODY THAT LOVES COMEDY AND ADAM SANDLER MOVIES, IT WILL DEFINITLEY GO IN MY DVD FAVORITES.