Beerfest

It’s a shame that Broken Lizard’s movies are regarded as "cult films” due to their lack of exposure and terrible box office runs, because there’s no reason why a film like Beerfest shouldn’t have been a comedic hit. Maybe if there were some big time Hollywood actors involved a genuinely funny movie like this would have been given more attention, but it’s the underdog charm of these five guys that give them their on-screen chemistry. Beerfest starts off a little slow, with Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske — the least popular members of Broken Lizard — playing two brothers travelling to Germany during Oktoberfest, where they uncover an underground beer drinking Olympics. It’s not until they return to America to build their own guzzling team to compete that things take off, especially when they seek out old friend Barry (Jay Chandrasekhar), who has become a male prostitute working underneath an overpass. With the recruitment of Barry, the American’s have their ultimate drinking machine and the movie takes off. The DVD has a number of extras, including uncensored, deleted scenes, that contain a fair share of naked women, as well as a completely different beginning that is fully shot and edited, just like the rest of these cutting room moments, making these scenes well worth watching, rather than the unpolished outtakes we’re used to. There are a number of interview segments where the cast talk about past incidents of alcoholic overindulgence, as well as a lengthy segment on the history of beer told via cheap animation that is both informative and ridiculous. The least essential extra is the Steve Lemme interview of a "frog fluffer,” similar to the one he plays in the movie, in which we watch a scientist extract bright green fluids from frogs and get annoyed when it’s called an "orgasm.” The commentaries are a little flat given the comedic talents of Broken Lizard, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying an often-hysterical film by a highly underrated group of comedians.(Warner)