With ‘Land of the Lost,’ Will Ferrell somehow manages to top the stupidity of ‘Step Brothers.’ Surprisingly enough, this makes for a hilarious movie.
The film opens up with Dr. Rick Marshall (Ferrell) being interviewed by Matt Lauer on his theories about time warps. After Lauer embarrasses Marshall, he storms off, returning only to attempt to strangle Lauer. A discouraged Marshall is later convinced to complete his time portal device by Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel), a former University of Cambridge student who admires his work. At the location where they need to test the device they pick up Will Stanton (Danny McBride), a redneck tourist trap tour guide. Though the trio only intend to test the device, things obviously go wrong and they become trapped in an alternate dimension.
The plot is almost irrelevant, however, because the purpose of the movie is to give Ferrell as many opportunities to act as ridiculous as possible. The film opened up to nearly universal negative reviews, and this could be attributed to terrible marketing. ‘Land of the Lost’ is not an adventure movie, and it definitely is not a children’s movie. The best description for the film is loosely connected sketch comedy, as any connection between the scenes is forced and uninteresting. There is little resemblance to the classic television show, as well, which may turn off some moviegoers.
Weak plot aside, Will Ferrell is absurd as Dr. Rick Marshall. Though the gags alternate between strong and unfunny, Ferrell’s dialogue continually shines through the movie, and in many scenes McBride only amplifies the effect. This is also one of the reasons that the marketing of the film is borderline criminal, as the dialogue is constantly crude. The juvenile sexual humor is perfect in form, with both male leads delivering in hilarious deadpan.
‘Land of the Lost’ is confused about its identity. The gags and jokes are almost all adult oriented, yet the dinosaur scenes are obviously targeted at children. Late in the film an attempt is made at creating an emotional scene, and this falls flat because it contradicts the tone of the movie up until that point. Yet despite these issues and gags that sometimes fall flat, Will Ferrell and Danny McBride manage to carry the film on their shoulders. Don’t expect ‘Jurassic Park’ meets ‘Lost in Space,’ expect ‘Talladega Nights’ meets ‘Kids in the Hall.’ Grade: B+ Runtime: 101 minutes Director: Brad Silberling Cast: Will Ferrell, Anna Friel, Danny McBride Release: June 5 Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual content
