Remember what I said about War of the Worlds? The same holds true for The Dukes only you have to reverse the halves.
The beauty of the old TV shows – CHiPs, The Dukes of Hazzard, The A-Team – was that the actors attempted to take the source material seriously. They knew it was ridiculous. You knew it was ridiculous. Still, bizarre material played straight is the best recipie for satiric comedy there is. The problem with the movie adaptations of the old TV shows is that everything is played with a wink and a nod – and it just ain’t funny. Most of the time.
The blessing of this flick was that once the writers got the wink/nod out of their system and finally stopped making the characters talk at all things really started rocking. All the beauty of the old show – fast cars, hot women, stupid cops, hilbilly hijinks – leapt to the forefront and carried you bodily across the finish line.
Hot damn! I went in expecting a sore disappointment and I was sorely disappointed: from the casting choices to the cheap gags to the political correctness. But you know what? Hearing the tinned notes of Dixie as the General Lee goes roaring through another impossible stunt can make up for just about anything.