Wildlife shows. Even if you could care less about nature, there''s something alluring about wildlife shows. Animals are funny and do funny things; even serious things they do, from killing to screwing, is entertaining. To top things off, the colorful personalities that present these animals, from the British narrative ("Watch as the lion provides subtle deliverance to his mate") to insane adventurers like Steve Irwin, are always over-the-top. But nothing compares to the absurd, smoke-fried, idiotic nature show featured in Strange Wilderness .
Steve Zahn''s latest so-so comedy, Strange Wilderness , is no Superbad , no matter how hard it tries. Relying on silly jokes, goofy, slapstick antics and some nicely timed swear words, the movie is your typical pot-smoking adventure, only without any clever drug references. Strange Wilderness is pretty random, as Zahn and his cohort of idiots manage to get in fights, attacked by piranhas, bitten by sharks and even assaulted by big foot, so on and so forth. While its randomness gives it a sense of charm, it rarely works in the audience''s favor. Random adventure movies work best when each random moment is more absurd than the last, a la Harold and Kumar , but Strange Wilderness rarely tries to outdo itself. The presentation is plain with occasional bits of cleverness, hardly a tour de force.
There are pockets of humor throughout, however. The 84-minute running time goes by quickly, and there are some highlights. The narrated footage of wildlife are pretty funny, as Zahn provides commentary on creatures he knows nothing about. One of the funniest moments is a clip from his show where he''s talking about monkeys in South America. Did you know that monkeys in South America make up 80% of the entire monkey population? That there are gazelles in South America? Lions? The guys in Strange Wilderness are so stupid that it''s hard not to laugh at times.