Without a Paddle is a disposable comedy in the tradition of the recent Eurotrip and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. While I certainly liked it more than the former, it didn't make me chuckle as much as the latter. That, in itself, is pretty pathetic given that Harold and Kumar only made me laugh around five times.

Without a Paddle features Matthew Lillard, Seth Green, and Dax Shepard--three life long friends who re-unite as adults under tragic circumstances. To honor the memory of a their recently deceased friend, these thirty something buddies decide to follow through on a mission that they only discussed as kids. Their late friend was obsessed with the notorious airline bandit D.B. Cooper and with the aid of a map he had spent much of his life coordinating, the surviving pals journey off to the backwoods of the Oregon wilderness. The beautiful setting, sadly, is one of the best things about the movie. Anyway off the three treasure hunters go to find the riches left behind by one of the worlds most notorious folk-legends. (On a side note, there was another dramedy made this subject--The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper).

Along the way, our three leads run into various backwoods hick stereotypes including a redneck cop, a grizzled hermit (played by Burt Reynolds), and a couple of bumbling bad guys who pursue them after Lillard, Green and Shepard, stumble upon their money making scheme deep in the forest (a scheme that would make Harold and Kumar foam at the mouth - and we're not talking growing little tiny hamburgers). Much of the movie is an obvious goof on the brilliant Deliverance, though somehow the filmmakers manage to skip any "squeal like a pig" references.

Lillard is the clueless dreamer, Green is the nebbish guy who can't get a date, and Shepard (of MTV's Punk'd fame) is the consummate smart ass who lies for a living. Not that it really hurts the film, but none of these actors are written into fully realized characters. They are merely cardboard cut-outs, trying to be cut-ups, and as I've alluded to they don't quite cut it. I should also warn you that those looking to be dazzled by veteran Burt Reynolds need not trouble themselves. The actor is in the movie for about seven minutes and there isn't anything particularly exciting about his harmless performance. The only reason he appears to be in Without a Paddle is to add yet another Deliverance reference.

Is the movie funny? Once in a while. It has a couple of humorous moments including a ridiculous sequence with a wild bear (it's so stupid, it's hard not to crack a smile), an amusing bit in which Lillard, Green and Shepard are forced to spoon, and a repulsive scene featuring a couple of heavies getting pelted with poop bombs, but ultimately, Without a Paddle is more dumb than anything else.

I must admit though, there were times when the movie got so damn strange that I almost enjoyed it for the sheer absurdity of it all. At one point in the film, one of our underachieving heroes climbs a tree to survey the area and instead sees a couple of hottie tree huggers pouring water on one another. My immediate reaction was; "What the F***!

Without a Paddle was directed by Steven Brill and as was the case with his Adam Sandler vehicle Wedding Singer, this movie is peppered with 80's nostalgia (Star Wars and Indiana Jones references galore), and some of it is surprisingly cute. Most of the movie, however, is a bore and extremely clumsy in execution. It's The Goonies meets Deliverance with a little Porky's thrown in for good measure, but it isn't in the same league as any of these films. In fact, I wouldn't even put it in the same league as last year's goofy but strangely entertaining horror wannabe "Wrong Turn."

This picture doesn't deserve an F, which is what many critics have given it, but it is forgettable and has nothing on the far superior comedies we've seen so far this year (i.e. Napoleon Dynamite, Anchorman, Shaun of the Dead). The movie is called Without a Paddle, but it's clearly the people who shelled out 8 bucks that are up Shit Creek!