The Dukes of Hazzard movie should have been a rowdy, raunchy romp, but action-film bombast and market-friendly political correctness sap it of its rebel-flag-wavin’ excitement. Jay Chandrasekhar awkwardly updates the controversial ‘80s TV series into a generic buddy comedy. Good ol’ boys Bo and Luke Duke (Seann William Scott, Johnny Knoxville) are outlaws who speed their souped-up Dodge Charger through the Georgia backwoods, often with gun-toting cops in hot pursuit. The car chases are loud but not joyous, and the go-for-broke, homoerotic energy Knoxville and Scott each brought to films like Jackass and The Rundown is sorely missing here. The Duke boys never doff their shirts, yet we’re inundated with Jessica Simpson’s T&A jiggle. Simpson is stiff, acting primarily with her teeth and gums. The outtakes at the end provide the only real laughs, suggesting the loose, sexy film that might have been.
Opens August 5
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