Wild Hogs is the name of this group of four’s motorcycle “gang.” They’ve all got Harleys, and they get together to ride regularly. As the film opens, we get a bit on each guy, enough to show why they’d be frustrated. Allen is Doug; he’s a dentist whose kid doesn’t think he’s cool and whose wife (Jill Hennessey) is probably too understanding of what he’s going through. He’s watching his cholesterol, he’s having panic attacks; he needs a break.
Lawrence is Bobby. He’s working on the self-help book to end all self-help books; at the start of the film, the year of focus on the book his domineering wife (Tichina Arnold) has granted him is up, and he’s back on security guard duty. Bobby’s hen-pecked with a capital H.
Macy is Dudley, self-proclaimed computer geek, accident-prone, and a total loss when it comes to women.
Travolta is Woody. His super-model wife is divorcing him, he’s broke, and he’s the one who comes up with the idea of the road trip. The other guys take some persuading, but they’re finally in for a ride from their hometown of Cincinnati (a suspiciously non-hilly Cincinnati) to the west coast..
The major plot line on the road is the Wild Hogs’ run-in with the Del Fuegos, a gang of real bikers, led by Ray Liotta. (Really … he’s got tattoos and everything.) Woody accidentally blows up the Del Fuegos hangout, and the guys are then on the run. They go to ground in a small town where Dudley gets a girl (Marisa Tomei), they befriend the police chief and his deputies, and generally get the whole town behind them, which comes in handy when the Del Fuegos show up.
There are lots of cute moments throughout, including a couple of scenes with Scrubs’ John McGinley as a cop who’s way too happy when he thinks the guys are a gay foursome. It’s all genial good humor, intercut with some biker violence.
Lawrence has some good moments, but Macy really shines. His Dudley is lovably goofy and you find yourself rooting for him to prove himself.
Special features include an alternate ending and two deleted scenes, none of which is really worth watching. The blooper reel does have some funny moments. The making of featurette is mostly about how the actors learned to ride (especially the novices, Lawrence and Macy) and how the stunts were set up. There’s also a commentary track with director Walt Becker and writer Brad Copeland, who gets to endure the usual comments in the making of about how they threw the script out and ad libbed most of the time.
The special feature that sounded most promising was “How to Get Your Wife to Let You Buy a Motorcycle.” The only real hint I heard was to promise not to drive it in traffic; the other pointers seem less about convincing a wife and more about convincing your (male) self. But, it’s packaged with a short questionnaire to send in to set up a Harley test ride and a sweepstakes to win a Harley, so that’s pretty smart.
Technical specs: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround; mono French and Spanish tracks; French and Spanish subtitles.
This is definitely a guy movie; the female characters are just afterthoughts. But it’s not a bad way to spend an hour and a half or so.
Overall: 6.5
