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The Broken Lizard comedy team isn’t exactly known for high-brow comedy. Instead, they’re known for the outrageously sophomoric humor of Super Troopers and Beerfest. But in their latest, The Slammin’ Salmon they bring their low-brow laughs to an unexpectedly high-brow establishment—which could explain why it isn’t quite as funny as some of their more appropriately uncultured comedies.
There’s rarely a dull moment at upscale Miami eatery The Slammin’ Salmon—especially when the owner, former heavyweight champ Cleon Salmon (Michael Clarke Duncan), makes an appearance. He may seem like a fun-loving guy, but everyone on the staff—especially manager Rich (Kevin Heffernan)—is terrified of him. So when The Champ tells Rich that he’s about to lose the restaurant in a Japanese albino hunting bet, Rich scrambles to find some kind of incentive for the wait staff—hoping to inspire them to make more than they’ve ever made before.
Rich offers free Norah Jones tickets to the waiter who brings in the most money, but The Champ raises the stakes: cash for the winner, a “broken rib sandwich” for the loser.
The evening (and the movie) gets off to a pretty slow start. The staff members battle and backstab for the best tables with the highest-paying customers—with only mildly amusing results. The new busboy (Paul Soter) gets drunk. After a run-in with a bowl of hot soup (followed by a series of other increasingly annoying face-burning fiascoes), pretty ballet dancer Mia (April Bowlby) begins to repel customers. And Rich accidentally swallows a customer’s engagement ring (cue the laxatives!).
For the most part, the various characters’ storylines are occasionally entertaining, though not exactly side-splitting—until Michael Clarke Duncan shows up. Take Mike Tyson’s bizarre yet captivating conversational style and give it Duncan’s deep, booming voice, and you’ve got The Champ. Although his is just a minor role, Duncan easily steals every last one of his scenes (and even one or two in which he doesn’t even appear) with his over-the-top antics, his outrageous stories, and his hilariously jumbled vocabulary.
Meanwhile, as the night wears on, things get crazier and crazier in the kitchen—especially after Nuts (Jay Chandrasekhar) forgets to take his medicine and gradually transforms from a dry, mild-mannered waiter into a boisterous wild man.
No matter how wild it gets, though, The Slammin’ Salmon never reaches the same levels of awkward hilarity as Beerfest. It’s often amusing but rarely riotous—and some of the subplots (especially Mia and her blistered face and Rich and the ring) get old much too quickly. It’s good for a few laughs (thanks especially to Michael Clarke Duncan), but it isn’t the troupe’s best.
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