KevinHeffernan Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Before The Slammin' Salmon, I wouldn't have called myself a fan of the boys from the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, though I have some mild, slightly embarrassed affection for Super Troopers and Club Dread. But Salmon is 90 minutes of truly inspired comic mayhem. With valuable assists from the rest of their cast, Broken Lizard has crafted the funniest film of SXSW – and they had some fine competition. I know I said that you can't trust me, but trust me: this is great stuff.

Broken Lizard is Jay Chandrasekhar, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske and Kevin Heffernan. Heffernan directed and the entire troupe is credited for the screenplay. But in a shrewd move, The Slammin' Salmon revolves around an outsider: Michael Clarke Duncan, who plays a boxer-turned-restaurant owner named Cleon Salmon, a.k.a. "The Champ." In the best comedy tradition, the Champ combines dim-witted cluelessness with peerless confidence. That, combined with his enormous size, puts his employees in mortal fear of his wrath. So when, one evening, he announces that the waiter with the most sales gets $10,000 while the loser gets a "broken rib sandwich," the waitstaff – led by their officious manager (Heffernan) – step to.

I have yet to love a Broken Lizard movie, but I have a definite soft spot for the goofy comedy group, which somehow manages to be both lowbrow and esoteric. I missed Beerfest, but fondly recall individual moments of brilliance in Super Troopers (e.g. Kevin Heffernan flipping out on the fast food joint surveillance tape) and Club Dread (Heffernan again, losing his cool at the "fun police"). Their jokes can be vulgar and crude, but they can also be so subtle that they're almost not jokes, if that makes any sense. The way they embrace that dichotomy is really interesting to me.

Anyway, the Broken Lizard boys have unveiled a redband trailer for their latest effort, The Slammin' Salmon, and it's a gem. They've recruited Michael Clarke Duncan to play the lead role of a boxer-turned-enthusiastic-seafood-restaurant-owner, which makes perfect sense. He has one line in the trailer about a swordfish that may singlehandedly turn the film into a cult classic. Or if it doesn't, Duncan's girlish shriek certainly will.

I'm even more excited for The Slammin' Salmon because it was directed by Heffernan who, if it wasn't obvious, is far and away my favorite member of the troupe. Jay Chandrasekhar, who directed all the previous films (as well as the execrable Dukes of Hazzard remake) co-wrote with Heffernan and stars.

The movie premieres at Slamdance this month, and will be released this year on a date to be determined. (I'm hoping it shows up at SXSW in March.) Check out the trailer over at Collider.

Strange Wilderness is a new comedy starring Steve Zahn as the host of a wilderness television show with plummeting ratings. To increase viewership, he assembles a motley crew and sets out on an expedition to find Bigfoot. The cast includes Jonah Hill, Justin Long, Ashley Scott, Peter Dante, Jeff Garlin, and -- believe it or not -- Ernest Borgnine! The red band trailer for Wilderness just hit the internet. (Need a little incentive to check it out? There's nudity. You're welcome.) Cinematical spoke with two of the film's stars -- Kevin Heffernan (of Broken Lizard fame) and Allen Covert (pretty much every Adam Sandler movie, Grandma's Boy) -- about this film and their careers. First up is Kevin Heffernan...

Cinematical: Who do you play in the film?

Kevin Heffernan: I play a character named Whitaker. When they go out on this trip, they need to hire an animal wrangler. I'm a car mechanic and I have no animal wrangling experience. Basically, I'm just looking for a job. So I go and interview with them and I win the job but I have no knowledge of animals. I don't even like them that much really! It's got this great ensemble cast and some great cameos...

Cinematical: It does have such a great comedy cast, was improvisation encouraged on the set?

KH: Yeah man. The script was so good, I mean it was written by Fred Wolf and Peter Gaulke who have a lot of comedy writing experience, but it was just one of those kind of movies where there's always like six or seven people on the screen. And they left it free for us to do the improv stuff that we all love to do. So there were a lot of people going off, and they had to kind of pull you back to the script a little bit.

I'm conflicted on the Broken Lizard comedy troupe. I thought Super Troopers was pretty funny, but Club Dread was a complete disaster. Beerfest was extremely uneven, but had some really hilarious moments. So I approach their new project with a mixture of excitement and indifference I'm calling "indiffitement." The Slammin' Salmon will get all the Broken Lizard guys back together -- Kevin Heffernan, Jay Chandrasekhar, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske. Chandrasekhar typically directs Broken Lizard projects (and also did the dreaded Dukes of Hazzard), but this one will be helmed by Heffernan (he played Farva in Super Troopers), making his directorial debut.

According to Variety, the comedy will revolve around "a restaurant owner and former heavyweight champ who pits his wait staff against each other in a Glengarry Glen Ross - like competish." (Hey Variety, I love you -- you supply me with a lot of my movie news and for that I am grateful. But..."competish?" I like abbreves as much as the next guy, but writing out "competition" only takes two more strokes of the keyboard!) Sounds like it could be funny, and The Slammin' Salmon is certainly a title you don't forget. The gang is doing this film independently, to beat a potential Screen Actors' Guild strike. "We wanted to go back to our independent roots and get a project off the ground and into production quickly," says Heffernan. Expect Salmon to swim (upstream of course) into theaters next year.