Vienna (2008)

Directed by: Mark Steilen | 88 minutes | comedy | Actors: Kenan Thompson, Fran Kranz, Zachary Levi, Darrell Hammond, Jenny McCarthy, Andy Milonakis, Mindy Sterling, Blake Clark, Andrew B. Ackerman, Kyle Gass, Tad DAgostino, Joel Moore, Sarah Drew, Sarah Wright, Chris Pratt, Bill Romanowski, Sina Amedson, Erin Empey-Baxter, John Farley, Frank Gerrish, Gabe Grifoni, Kari Hawker, Molly Jepson, Jimmy Miklavcic, Maclain Nelson, JJ Neward, Rachel Nish, Kerry Pence, Tyger Rawlings, Greyson Richey, Weston Roberts, Hailey Smith, Melinda Sward, Sierra Dawn Thomas, Tisha Vaculin, Devin Wolfe, Robin Westover

Do you remember Kenan Thompson from the series ‘Kenan & Kel’ (1996-2000)? It was the chubby kid whose bosom friend Kel was crazy about orange prick. That series still had its funny moments with all the antics of the couple, especially Kel (Kel Mitchell). Unfortunately you can hardly say that about ‘Wieners’…

It all starts with a talk show from one Doctor Dwayne, an even worse version of Dr. Phil, played by Darrell Hammond of ‘Saturday Night Live’ (1975), here complete with a Southern American accent and accompanying know-it-all. There, Joel’s girlfriend (Fran Kranz) decides that she no longer wants to be with him. There is no such thing as merciless dumping and Dr. Dwayne is also more annoying than mean. Anyway, Joel lives in front of the TV for a month, only eating chips and not washing until he is taken on a road trip by his two best friends. The goal is to take revenge on Dr. Dwayne, but unfortunately this doctor is not made a real villain throughout the film. He is more annoying and you can’t speak of real revenge towards the end either. So why are they even going? Then there’s friend Wyatt who is eager to distribute free sausages for Oscar Mayer across America in his own sausage bus. But why he wants that so badly is not told, but we do hear that he was rejected twelve times for an internship.

Such a bland comedy does not require much content, but a clear and, for example, simple goal is a requirement. Something that binds the three friends and viewers, such as the search for the fast food joint in ‘Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle’ (2004) or the interception of a video tape in ‘Road Trip’ (2000). In addition, the jokes do not come out well or worse, they are often not fun at all. Like a Hitler joke and when there’s a bird on Joel’s hand. If you think Jenny McCarthy can make you laugh, you’re wrong. She’s just a filthy farmer’s wife who gets little funny to say or do and is soon out of the picture. A real shame. Combine this with well-worn poop, pee, fart and sex jokes and you’re left with little fun comedy.

The acting is really only good with Kenan, although here he runs around more like a screaming Chris Tucker. Zachary Levi and Fran Kranz act inconclusive several times. In fact, as a viewer you only empathize with Wyatt a bit. Andy Milonakis of ‘The Andy Milonakis Show’ (2005-2006) gets to play a bully from Joel’s childhood. But a victory of Joel’s demons is not shown either. Suddenly the switch flips and he has some sort of super powers when he attacks the competing tofu hippies. It’s all pretty meaningless and humorless (especially the ending). Nice to see is the comic contest of Ben (Zachary Levi) and the Wiener mobile. ‘Wieners’ has all kinds of ingredients, just like ‘Dude Where’s My Car’ (2000): bosom friends, strange characters and a cool sausage bus, but in the end it is just a weak bite.