The Sasquatch Gang (2007)

Originally Written

Sunday, June 8, 2008

From the first assistant director of Napoleon Dynamite comes it's highly retarded brother The Sasquatch Gang. I came across this independent release during one of my Netflix browsing and was interested in seeing what could be a highly entertaining comedy. How could a film with the tag-line "An epic tale of nerds and turds", not be awesome!?!

The Sasquatch Gang follows a group of extremely nerdy kids whose days are filled with foam sword duels and fantasy films. Gavin Gore is the leader of this rag tag group of nerds who discover some large footprints and a huge turd in the woods, to them all signs point to a Sasquatch! But in all actuality it's a huge stunt being pulled by Gore's neighbor Zerk Wilder (Justin Long) and his strange shirtless buddy Shirts. Zerk puts this all together after he learns he owes $1,438.93 in penalties and interest on a credit card that he used once at a hamburger joint for purchase of $5.17. If he doesn't come up with the money quick the bank will take his car. So he uses Gavin's obsession with the Sasquatch in hopes that it will attract attention to this "discovery" and allow them to make some quick cash.

The Sasquatch Gang is a blatant Napoleon Dynamite rip-off only it's not nearly as funny or entertaining. Characters such as Zerk Wilder's friend Shirts acts and talks a lot like Napoleon's brother Kit, and you'll see familiar faces such as Jon Gries (Uncle Rico) as the town's Officer Ed Chillcut, and even a brief cameo from Jon Heder as the laser tag guy. The first half of the film is hilarious because it mainly focuses on Zerk and his friend (the two funniest characters) as they plot to make some money off the stupidity of their nerdy neighbors. The second half of the film focuses more on the kids and their relationship with one another, this is where the story begins to become a little bit of a bore, partly because the reoccurring jokes and one liners that were funny at the start begin to feel a little played out. Overall, if your a big fan Napoleon Dynamite this film might be worth checking out for a rather bizarre and at times hilarious storyline, but even at only 86 minutes this film seems to run a little too long and is not as nearly as smart and well written as it's cousin.

7/10