By Sabrina Cognata

I guess the quickest way to sum up this movie is from something I overheard while in the theater.  This guy leans over and looks at this friend after his friend spits his drink all over himself from laughing and says, “This might be the funniest movie of all time.” Although I think that is stretching it, I will agree that STRANGE WILDERNESS is over-the-top hilarity every moment of the film.  While it doesn’t have any particular meaning and the story sort of flails all over the place in the end, the target is to obtain laughs and in this way, the writer’s and actors accomplished what they intended to. 

Before I actually saw this movie I knew I had to see it because the commercials have this creepy shark that laughs and laughs.  In fact, I’ve been calling it “The Laughing Shark Movie” for the last week in a half.  I never knew a laughing shark could be so hilarious and I ventured to the movies with the intention of watching a shark laugh, but getting myself into so much more.  This is the story of a failing animal show called Strange Wilderness, headed by Peter (Steve Zahn).  He inherited the show from his father who has passed away and has started running it like a half-assed project for a 9th grade A-V class. His show about bears is typified by a voice over with information like “Attacks from salmon onto bears are much more rare.”  Well, duh. 

Anyways, Peter is faced with the fact that his show is about to be cancelled and in an attempt to save it, he heads to the Andes to hunt down Big Foot with his crew, your typical F-troop.  Some of the highlights are when the crew stops to film some sea lions and Danny (Peter Dante) gets attacked by a shark and is gone for the remainder of the film until about the last five minutes.  Another, fabulous part is when Junior (Justin Long) steals a bottle of nitrous to sell on the streets, but it starts leaking and in the middle of the film the entire crew flips out and starts partying with their bodies covered in dayglo paint and I am still not sure of the point of it, but it is hilarious. 


Eventually, the crew makes it to the remote location where Sasquatch inhabits armed with automatic weapons and instead of filming the mythical creature the crew freaks out and kills him.  In a bid to save the episode they pretend Big Foot commits suicide by hanging and talk about how his isolation lead him to this disaster.  Their show gets cancelled and it looks like everything is lost, but then Peter gathers up his crew and they shoot one last episode about Sharks.  This is where the laughing shark comes in and probably the most hilarious part of this film. 

I realize the storyline has a ton of holes and in all the film makes little sense, but it is funny, and mind numbingly so.  The film won’t be winning any major awards or anything, but if you’re in the mood for a tremendously good laugh via the miracle of bathroom humor, then this is the film for you.