Strange Wilderness; RED LIGHT

Steve Zahn leads a cast of talented people who decided to leave that talent behind and instead present us with Strange Wilderness. You want to like this movie, you may even watch it and think to yourself that this is a movie you would like even more the next time around. Please, do not take this approach. It's a simple pitch: A long running nature show host dies and his son takes over the family business and hi-jinks ensue. In every movie there needs to be some suspension of belief to enjoy them, but not once did I ever believe that this show could actually exist in the state Peter Gaulke (Steve Zahn) has them. The brief expedition has Peter and his team going after Big Foot to save the show. It's in the "TV show inside the Film" that some of the more laugh at loud moments happen when a simple task of showing some stock animal footage and having Steve perform a voice over that is so far from actual fact you cannot help but laugh. Unfortunately these moments are merely sprinkled throughout the movie, which is saying something since it only runs 87 minutes. Joining Zahn in this strange trip are Justin Long of Mac commercial fame, Jonah Hill fresh off Superbad and Kevin Heffernan of comic troupe Broken Lizard, all of whom don't need to make this movie. Halfway through the movie you may even begin to slip into thinking of the different scenarios these actors were lured to make this movie. It's as if someone sat them down and told them that people may not like it now, but it will become a cult classic. Not so. You could make viewing this movie even better by trying to spot all of Adam Sandlers (he has an Executive Producer credit) from his other films. You may even notice Ernest Borgnine from the hit 80's show Airwolf and be able to correct your friend on the notion that he was dead. There is a good movie somewhere within the confines of Strange Wilderness, but as it stands I'd stay far, far away from this trip into the wilderness.