Broken Lizard’s Slammin’ Salmon released yesterday on DVD and Blu-Ray.  This was supposed to go up then to coincide, but got bumped by Joss Whedon.

If there’s one thing that seems to characterize the Broken Lizard gang other than looking like Hootie and the Blowfish if the singer was Indian, it’s that they don’t try very hard.   I don’t say that to be insulting.  It’s actually what you might call a double-edged sword.  (Though isn’t that pretty much every sword?  How many single-edged swords have you seen?  That’s called a knife.)  Point is, this refusal to turn in much effort sometimes manifests itself in half-assed jokes, for example an annoying restaurant patron who takes up a table while ordering only water and reading War and Peace.  It’s the kind of joke I could imagine myself writing in fifth grade, and if I were to put in a movie, would probably want to add some layers to.  But not Broken Lizard, they just go with it and keep rolling.

Other times, that they can just throw something at the wall and keep rolling whether it sticks or not becomes a strength of theirs, and it comes from that same approach. You give a joke more leeway if it seems  like they just thought of it ten minutes ago, which they probably did.  It doesn’t feel contrived, so the stakes are lower.  It’s improvisational — sometimes it works, sometimes it tanks.

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Broken Lizard, the comedy team from Colgate U. behind Super Troopers, Club Dread, and Beerfest, have a new movie coming out December 11th, The Slammin’ Salmon.  It stars Michael Clarke Duncan as a former boxing champ who offers $10,000 to the waiter who can sell the most fish at his restaurant. Then he threatens hilarity to ensue or else he’ll punch it in the stomach. Will hilarity comply???  Anyway, it looks like it could either be really funny or really stupid, I’m guessing both. 

Haha, “how are you feline.” Because they’re cats, get it? It’s funny ’cause I want to hug them.

Michael Clarke Duncan day on FilmDrunk continues with the trailer for Broken Lizard’s Slammin’ Salmon, so grab yourself a Quizno’s flatbread sammy and enjoy.  For those of you not in the know, Broken Lizard is the comedy team that shot to fame with Super Troopers, then decided they wanted to go to Hawaii and hang out with naked chicks all day and made Club Dread.  Then they made Beerfest, a movie about drinking games.  Their movies are stupid (save for the some scenes in Super Troopers which were legitimately brilliant), but sort of endearingly stupid.  Like, that joke sucked, but I do respect that you didn’t try very hard.

The premise of this one is that former boxing champ Cleon Salmon is offering $10,000 to the top-selling waiter in a one-night-only contest at his restaurant.  Sounds great, but I wish Farva would go back to acting like Farva.

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The boys from Broken Lizard (Super Troopers, Club Dread, Beerfest) will be shooting their latest opus, Slammin’ Salmon, in January.  Say what you will about Club Dread (which I didn’t like, but respected for seeming like it was just an excuse to go to Hawaii and party with naked chicks) or Beerfest (which was barely a movie), but Broken Lizard’s peak was definitely the first scene of Super Troopers.

Kevin Heffernan will direct and co-star along with Broken Lizard members Jay Chandrasekhar, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske. Story, to be penned by the troupe, revolves around a restaurant owner and former heavyweight champ who pits his wait staff against each other in a "Glengarry Glen Ross"-like competish. [Variety]

"Competish"?  Did Carrie Bradshaw start writing for Variety? 

Rejected titles include Awesome Possum, Funky Monkey, Polygamous Pigeon, Punk Rock Macauque, and Salamander Who Got AIDS From a Hooker.