By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic
Published August 24, 2006
The Broken Lizard comedy troupe returns in Beerfest (R), apparently as raunchy and tasteless as ever. The five guys have a sturdy, if small, fan base and probably as many people puzzled by their fame. Count me among the latter: Super Troopers and Club Dread didn't do much for my funny bone.
Beerfest sends Broken Lizard to Germany, where brothers Jan and Todd Wolfhouse (Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske) seek their family roots and an Oktoberfest party. What they find is an underground cult of commando beer drinkers along the lines of Fight Club. They're embarrassed by their performances in the sex-and-suds competition, retreating to the United States, motivated to train for the next year's event.
Jan and Todd recruit the remaining Broken Lizard comedians (Kevin Heffernan, Jay Chandrasekhar, Steve Lemme) and begin training as a team. The reasons for the MPAA rating suggest their workout regimen: crude and sexual content, profanity, nudity and - most important - substance abuse.
A review of Beerfest will be published Friday on Page 2B.
