Starsky & Hutch (2004)

Starsky u0026 Hutch: Directed by Todd Phillips. With Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Snoop Dogg, Fred Williamson. Two streetwise cops bust criminals in their red and white Ford Gran Torino, with the help of a police snitch called “Huggy Bear”.

“The tale of two oddball police detectives who have a habit of getting stuck in awkward situations even with the best of intentions. Starsky (Ben Stiller) is very much by-the-book – embarrassingly so – whereas Hutch has a laid back rather ‘hippyu0026#39; approach to the rules. One of the films great strengths is that it plays on satire and keeps the action secondary. The two main characters are ably aided and abetted by Huggy Bear (Snoop Dogg) and, although there is a big-drugs-bust plotline, the movieu0026#39;s main intention seems to be to make a homage to the style and clichés of certain 70s filmmaking (and the original TV show); car chases, for instance, focus on tongue-in-cheek action rather than adrenalin, and the copsu0026#39; love of empty-headed curvaceous women combined with a homophobia towards each other and gay men is portrayed laughingly as an echo of the attitudes of the times rather than appealing to those sentiments. Not the sort of comedy I expected to enjoy so much personally, but I quickly warmed to this movie and found the feelgood factor continued unabated till the end.”