Tom, Billy, Dan, and Jerry were best friends growing up. Once they were grown up, they went their separate ways, but still kept in touch. Billy went off on several adventures. He was in an accident on his last trip and died. Tom, Dan, and Jerry returned home for his funeral. Then spent some time in the tree house they had built as children. They remembered how they had talked about how a man named D.B. had parachuted out in the woods with a lot of money and was never found. As kids, they wanted to go looking for the money when they were older. They found maps in the tree house that made it look like Billy had researched and planned a trip for them to take to look for the money. Tom and Jerry were ready to go, but Dan needed to be convinced.

They rented a canoe and headed off down the river. They did fairly well the first day. Tom kept doing things to annoy Dan. That night, Dan was determined to start their fire without matches. They encountered a bear that took a liking to Dan. He got away from the bear and the three of them spent the night in a tree. Before they left the next morning, they saw two men using dynamite to catch fish. Once they got started, they ended up going the wrong way. The bear had ripped the map. They made it through some rapids, only to go over a waterfall. They spent hours walking before they finally spotted some kind of camp. Elwood and Dennis, the two men they saw earlier in the day on the river, lived there.

Elwood and Dennis were involved in something and not happy that Dan, Tom, and Jerry had found their place. The three friends ended up running from Elwood and Dennis, who were armed will all kinds of weapons. Tom, Dan, and Jerry had more bad luck during their trip, which forced them to hike through the woods wearing only their underwear and shoes. They also met up with Del, a man that had been living on the mountain for a very long time.

CAST

Seth Green - Dan Mott
Matthew Lillard - Jerry Conlaine
Dax Shepard - Tom Marshall
Ray Baker - Sheriff Briggs
Ethan Suplee - Elwood
Abraham Benrubi - Dennis
Burt Reynolds - Del

Without a Paddle was directed by Steven Brill. The movie was released in August of 2004. It was 95 minutes long and rated PG-13. I don’t think this is a movie that children should see. There were some things said and done that children shouldn’t see or hear.

I didn’t have high expectations before seeing Without a Paddle. I thought it would be silly, but that was it for my expectations. I was right about it being silly at times. That didn’t bother me. It is probably too silly for some people. I thought that the movie was very funny at times. There were several other people in the theater when I saw the movie, and everyone was laughing throughout it. The movie did start off a little slow, but once they left on their trip, the pace picked up. Many funny things happened during their trip. There were a few things done for laughs that were gross. Tom said a lot of funny things. Dan was very funny at times. He was afraid of everything, including plastic wrap. Tom enjoyed doing things to bother Dan, including poking him with a stick to make him think bugs were biting him. Dan talked like C-3PO from the Star Wars movies more than once. It cracked me up when he did that. Dan looked really short next to Jerry and Tom. I don’t remember thinking that Seth Green was that short in other movies. I don’t know if he really was that much shorter than the other two, or if camera angles were used to make him look shorter. He looked like a little boy next to them sometimes.

Death was touched on in Without a Paddle, but it was far from a serious movie. There were a few moments at the beginning of the movie dealing with the funeral that were more serious dealing with the funeral, but even that was lighted when Tom showed up at the grave site on a motorcycle. Jerry was having some trouble with his girlfriend since he forgot their anniversary and didn’t seem to want the same commitment that she did. That was handled with humor as well. The movie was predictable, though there were a few moments when I didn’t know what would happen next. The movie was entertaining for me even though it was silly and predictable at times. People looking for a serious movie should look for something else. There was some violence in a few scenes of the movie, but it wasn’t violent overall. The violence didn’t bother me.

There weren’t any actual sex scenes in Without a Paddle, but there were some conversations about sex at different times. Early in the movie, Tom was shown rolling around in bed with a woman. They were in their underwear. Slang terms were used for a few body parts. Some people could be offended by some things that were said in the movie. At one point in the movie, Dan, Jerry, and Tom, ended up hiking through the woods wearing only their underwear and shoes. They were dressed, or undressed, that way for a while. That situation lead to one scene that has been in some of the previews where the three ended up snuggled together to keep warm. There was no actual nudity in the movie, but the three guys did show a lot of skin since they were running around in their underwear. They were all in good shape.

I really liked Seth Green in this movie. His character had all kinds of phobias. He was worried about germs and getting dirty, which caused him some stress since they were in the middle of the woods. He made me laugh all the time. I have seen Seth Green in several movies, and as Oz in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Dan was very different from Oz, and the characters Green played in America's Sweethearts and The Italian Job. Matthew Lillard annoyed me in a big way in Scream. I think I saw him in something else where he annoyed me as well. He didn’t annoy me at all in this movie. I liked him in this one. I haven’t seen Dax Shepard in anything before. He was fine in the part. I didn’t recognize Burt Reynolds at first as Del. He looked like a wild man. I’ve never seen him in a part like that before. I think he did well with the part. The other actors were also good, though nothing really stood out to me about their performances.

CHARACTERS

Dan - He was a doctor. He worried about germs and dirt. He had asthma. He was afraid of all kinds of things. He was a bit of a wimp. He had to be convinced to go on the trip. He was not an outdoor type of person.

Jerry - He didn’t seem happy with his job. He was a business man of some kind. He was living with his girlfriend, but he didn’t seem to want to take the next step and get married. He was feeling unhappy with certain things in his life and jumped at the chance to go on the trip with his friends.

Tom - He had a habit of exaggerating the truth or just out right lying. He was excited about going on the trip. He thought he had bad luck because of a family curse.

Del - He had been living on the mountain for many years. He looked like a wild man. He wasn’t as scarey as he looked though.

Elwood and Dennis - Two men that were involved in something and didn’t want Tom, Dan, or Jerry to go to the police. Elwood and Dennis had a lot of guns, and they weren’t afraid to use them.

I ended up liking Without a Paddle a lot more than I thought I would. It was very funny and entertaining. Fans of the cast, especially Seth Green, may enjoy the movie as well.

Related Reviews
America's Sweethearts ~ The Italian Job ~ Smokey and the Bandit II ~



Recommended: Yes