Without a Paddle

Throw Matthew Lillard, Seth Green and Dax Shepard (‘Punk’d’) into the wilderness and you’d expect a fair few laughs; but then perhaps not with the director of ‘Mr Deeds’ at the helm. Steven Brill attempts a modern ‘Deliverance’ with this tale of three friends who take to the wilds after the death of a mate but ends up with an ineffectual, conflicted comedy. Hidden treasure is the guys’ goal, yet each one has to face his own personal demons, of course, before he can find the true treasure that awaits him, and so on... The uneasy mix of sentiment and toilet humour lands this in a no man’s land between cosy buddy movie and gross-out lads flick. Green is occasionally amusing as a wimpish doctor, ditto Shepard as a brash fantasist; but their characters are too thin and their escapades too hackneyed to involve fully. Being chased by inbred marijuana farmers is about as funny as it gets.