The Larry the Cable Guy military service comedy "Delta Farce" (** out of ****) ranks as a lowbrow, redneck version of the 1981 Bill Murray classic "Stripes" with a dose of "The Magnificent Seven" tossed into this PG-13 potboiler. Primarily, groaners pass for laughs with derogatory stand-up routines about homosexuals, terrorists, Middle Eastern ethnic groups, Michael Jackson, and obese people as well as absurd sight gags and the inevitable bowel humor. Nevertheless, this cretinous armed forces epic actually boasts a plot with a beginning, middle, and an ending. As amusing as Larry the Cable Guy, his "Blue Collar Comedy" cohort Bill Engvall, and Pinocchio-like D. J. Qualls, who qualifies as a sight gag himself, are as a Sad Sack trio of Army Reservists in "Delta Farce," they don't have much ammo to shell out laughs with in the predictable, uninspired script by first-time scribes Bear Aderhold and Tom Sullivan. Although the Pentagon did not sanction director C.B. Harding's lame-brained adventure opus, "Delta Farce" endorses both President George W. Bush's strategy with a nod and wink and it dedicates itself to those Americans serving in Iraq. The biggest revelation, however, is the clever casting of Hispanic heavy Danny Trejo of "Desperado" and "Grindhouse" as the chief adversary. Trejo shows a knack for humor in "Delta Farce" that previous filmmakers have never tapped.
Larry (Southern Fried comic Daniel Lawrence Whitney), Bill (Bill Engvall) and Everett (D.J. Qualls of "Road Trip") are hapless U.S. Army reservists, aka 'weekend warriors,' all set to pull their one weekend-of-the-month of military duty when they find themselves mustered to Iraq to make up for a manpower shortage. Along the way, they contend with a gung-ho Sergeant Kilgore (Keith David of "Pitch Black") who wants to whip these dim-witted hayseeds into first-class fighters. Our heroes board a military transport plane for Iraq, but they are so uncomfortable with their accommodations that they hole up in a desert fighting vehicle in the rear cargo bay. About the time that unhappy Sgt. Kilgore goes searching for them, the plane encounters turbulence and the pilots jettison the cargo bay where are heroes are sleeping. Not only do they dump Larry, Bill, and Everett, but only in the process Sgt. Kilgore gets tangled up in a supply pallet and goes out with them. When our heroes recover and climb out of their desert fighting vehicle the next day, they think that they have landed in Falluja. Actually, they are in Mexico. This brings up an interesting question: how does a military transport plane leaving the East Coast fly over Mexico in route to Iraq? Initially, too, when they discover Sgt. Kilgore's body, they believe that he is dead and they bury him in a shallow grave with a rifle and helmet as the traditional tombstone. Eventually, these likable but lame-brained losers learn that they are in Mexico and they behave like "The Magnificent Seven" in an effort to save a poor town from evil bandits led by Carlos Santana (Danny Trejo) who repeatedly denies any knowledge of his musical namesake.
As scrappy little Everett, D.J. Qualls literally steals the show with his moronic malapropisms about Kurds and Shiites. He substitutes a T for the K in Kurds and refers to the Shiites as S*!t-tights. Everett's joke prompted chuckles and derisive snorts every time that he uttered it. At one point, Everett dons his sniper's gear to practice psychological warfare against a captured bandit that he still believes is attached to the Republican Guard. Larry takes one look at Everett's outlandish outfit and says that he looks like Chewbacca from the "Star Wars" movies. Later, Everett puts on a corny costume and gate-crashes a wrestling match with a body builder. Larry's best joke is when he compares their predicament in Mexico with that of "a Cub Scout at the Neverland Ranch." Poor Sgt. Kilgore ends up as the butt of every crappy joke in the manual. Everett takes a whiz into a canteen and warns his buddies that they may have to drink their own pee before they flee the desert. Larry and Bill persuade him to leave the contaminated canteen behind. After Kilgore emerges from his grave, he goes straight for the accursed canteen and belts back a slug of its contents. Predictably, our protagonists deliver the helpless Mexicans from the predatory drug dealers and everybody goes home a hero. Good casting, sympathetic heroes, an occasionally funny joke, and Trejo's surprising comic turn as a bandit don't 'Git-R-Done' as Larry the Cable Guy likes to say. Incidentally, the best sight gag is the movie's poster that pays homage to director Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam masterpiece "Full Metal Jacket" with the profile of a U.S. Army helmet.
Larry (Southern Fried comic Daniel Lawrence Whitney), Bill (Bill Engvall) and Everett (D.J. Qualls of "Road Trip") are hapless U.S. Army reservists, aka 'weekend warriors,' all set to pull their one weekend-of-the-month of military duty when they find themselves mustered to Iraq to make up for a manpower shortage. Along the way, they contend with a gung-ho Sergeant Kilgore (Keith David of "Pitch Black") who wants to whip these dim-witted hayseeds into first-class fighters. Our heroes board a military transport plane for Iraq, but they are so uncomfortable with their accommodations that they hole up in a desert fighting vehicle in the rear cargo bay. About the time that unhappy Sgt. Kilgore goes searching for them, the plane encounters turbulence and the pilots jettison the cargo bay where are heroes are sleeping. Not only do they dump Larry, Bill, and Everett, but only in the process Sgt. Kilgore gets tangled up in a supply pallet and goes out with them. When our heroes recover and climb out of their desert fighting vehicle the next day, they think that they have landed in Falluja. Actually, they are in Mexico. This brings up an interesting question: how does a military transport plane leaving the East Coast fly over Mexico in route to Iraq? Initially, too, when they discover Sgt. Kilgore's body, they believe that he is dead and they bury him in a shallow grave with a rifle and helmet as the traditional tombstone. Eventually, these likable but lame-brained losers learn that they are in Mexico and they behave like "The Magnificent Seven" in an effort to save a poor town from evil bandits led by Carlos Santana (Danny Trejo) who repeatedly denies any knowledge of his musical namesake.
As scrappy little Everett, D.J. Qualls literally steals the show with his moronic malapropisms about Kurds and Shiites. He substitutes a T for the K in Kurds and refers to the Shiites as S*!t-tights. Everett's joke prompted chuckles and derisive snorts every time that he uttered it. At one point, Everett dons his sniper's gear to practice psychological warfare against a captured bandit that he still believes is attached to the Republican Guard. Larry takes one look at Everett's outlandish outfit and says that he looks like Chewbacca from the "Star Wars" movies. Later, Everett puts on a corny costume and gate-crashes a wrestling match with a body builder. Larry's best joke is when he compares their predicament in Mexico with that of "a Cub Scout at the Neverland Ranch." Poor Sgt. Kilgore ends up as the butt of every crappy joke in the manual. Everett takes a whiz into a canteen and warns his buddies that they may have to drink their own pee before they flee the desert. Larry and Bill persuade him to leave the contaminated canteen behind. After Kilgore emerges from his grave, he goes straight for the accursed canteen and belts back a slug of its contents. Predictably, our protagonists deliver the helpless Mexicans from the predatory drug dealers and everybody goes home a hero. Good casting, sympathetic heroes, an occasionally funny joke, and Trejo's surprising comic turn as a bandit don't 'Git-R-Done' as Larry the Cable Guy likes to say. Incidentally, the best sight gag is the movie's poster that pays homage to director Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam masterpiece "Full Metal Jacket" with the profile of a U.S. Army helmet.