The Slammin' Salmon

Reviewed by Drav3n

Format: Blu-ray

Release: April 13, 2010

Rated: R

Runtime: 98 Minutes

In the 70's & 80's, there were Cheech & Chong. In the 90's into the early 2000's there were Jay and Silent Bob and the rest of the View Askewniverse. In today's world there are the Broken Lizard team.

The Movie:

The group responsible for cult classics such as Super Troopers, Beerfest and Club Dread (and the lesser known of the bunch, Puddle Cruiser), are back! This time they are are entering the restaurant business as cooks and waiters.

But this time they are packing a harder punch by bringing in Academy Award nominated actor, Michael Clark Duncan. Duncan leads (and shines) in this movie as Cleon "Slammin'" Salmon, the former Heayweight Champion boxer turned owner of the Miami restaurant called "The Slammin' Salmon." Cleon has gotten himself into a sizable gambling debt and needs to come up with $20,000. So how is he going to pay his debt? Well, he will come up with a contest where the top selling server will win $10,000 at the end of the night and the waiter that comes in last place.. will be on the receiving end of a "broken-rib sandwich." The crew knows it's every man for himself now, so let the greed, backstabbing and sabotaging begin!

Also appearing in this movie is Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother), Will Forte, Olivia Munn, Vivica Fox, and Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes, and also the cousin to Jay Chandrasekhar). Add all of them + Duncan + the standard Broken Lizard group and you have a winner on your hands. The slapstick humor is over the top, in a good way of course.

Previously, it was Jay Chandrasekhar that had directed the other Broken Lizard movies of Super Troopers, Beerfest and Club Dread. This time around Kevin Heffernan is directing. And I gotta give him the thumbs up on this. Whoever came up with the idea of recruiting Michael Clark Duncan was genius. He took this role and ran with it, and delivered one hysterical performance!

Presentation:

The film is presented in full 1080p in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. For a low budget release, this film looks really good! Colors (especially the blue) standout with very little noticeable grain. The film has a real crisp look to it.

Audio:

Now, normally this is where I would complain because there is no DTS-HD Master Audio. Instead we have PCM 5.1. HOWEVER, it works fine in this low-budget comedy. There are no hiccups in the audio, and the music and dialogue come through perfectly.

Bonus Material:

Sadly, this release doesn't offer that many bonus features. It was weird to see the group broken up into two different commentaries, but it worked. Broken Lizard fans will want to check out both commentaries as they both provide some entertaining moments

• Audio Commentary - Writer/Director Kevin Heffernan & actor Steve Lemme
• Audio Commentary - Actors Jay Chandrasekhar, Erik Stolhanske & Paul Soter
• Hellish Kitchens: Art Imitates Restaurant Life (1080i, Runtime 6:50) - The group recalls their thoughts memories of the lovely restaurant business.
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p, Runtime 2:35)

Bottom Line:

Employees not taking their meds, getting drunk on the clock is only a taste of what's brought to the table in this film (no pun intended). Broken Lizard fans shouldn't be disappointed with this movie. The group delivers with another solid release. The disc looks and sounds good. The audio commentaries give replay value to the movie.