Review: Wieners (2008)

Director: 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 “Kenan & Kel” series (1996-2000)? It was the somewhat plump boy whose best friend Kel was crazy about orange prick. That series still had its funny moments with all the antics of the couple, especially those of Kel (Kel Mitchell). Unfortunately, you can hardly say that about “Wieners” …

It all starts with a talk show from one Dr. Dwayne, an even worse variation of Dr. Phil, played by Darrell Hammond from “Saturday Night Live” (1975), here complete with Southern American accent and accompanying know-it-all. There, Joel’s (Fran Kranz) girlfriend decides that she no longer wants to be with him. Merciless dumping is out of the question and Dr. Dwayne is also more annoying than mean. Anyway, Joel lives in front of the TV for a month, eating only chips and not washing himself until he is taken on a road trip by his two best friends. The aim is to take revenge on Dr. Dwayne, but unfortunately this doctor is not made a real villain during the film. He’s more annoying and you can’t speak of real revenge towards the end. So why are they actually going? Then there is friend Wyatt who likes to hand out sausages for Oscar Mayer for free across America in his own sausage van. 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 silly comedy does not require much content, but a clear and, for example, simple goal is required. Something that binds the three friends and viewers, think of 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 are not well presented or worse, they are often not fun at all. Like a Hitler joke and when a bird is on Joel’s hand. If you think Jenny McCarthy can make you laugh, then you are wrong. She’s just a filthy peasant woman here who doesn’t get much fun to say or do and is quickly out of the picture. A real shame. Combine this with worn-out shit, pee, fart and sex jokes and you’re left with little fun comedy.

Acting is really only good with Kenan, although he runs around here more like a screaming Chris Tucker. Zachary Levi and Fran Kranz act unconvincingly several times. So as a viewer you actually only sympathize a little with Wyatt. Andy Milonakis from “The Andy Milonakis Show” (2005-2006) gets to play a bully from Joel’s childhood. But a victory of Joel’s demons is also not shown. Suddenly the switch goes and he has some sort of super powers when he attacks the competing tofu hippies. It’s all pretty pointless and humorless (especially the ending). Nice to see is the comic competition of Ben (Zachary Levi) and the Wiener mobile. “Wieners” has all kinds of ingredients, just like “Dude Where’s My Car” (2000): soul mates, strange characters and a cool sausage tin, but in the end it is just a weak bite.