Reviews

This show fails to live up to its potential because it does not respect the viewer. The premise is interesting: Jesse James takes part in dangerous activities related to his motorhead background. So far, the featured challenges have some inherent interest: the concept of motorcycling on the ice road (made famous in "Ice Road Truckers") is appealing, and I (for one) was introduced to the bizarre world of Figure 8 racing during another episode. And, to be sure, the activities are dangerous, even if the setups are controlled where possible by producers.

Unfortunately, the creators of the show seem worried that the episodes are not daring or exciting enough, so the viewer has to suffer through almost-constant declarations by an annoying narrator that what Jesse is doing is VERY DANGEROUS. Remember Count Floyd on SCTV, the host of the late-night horror movie who kept insisting that things were very scary? I wonder if he is a consultant to this show, because it similarly reveals the truth by protesting too much about its own horrific atmosphere. The second, near-constant subtext is that JESSE IS A BADASS. The episodes simply work too hard to tell us that he is exceptional in all situations. This claim rings hollow in the presence of true experts featured in each episode's particular event. Some episodes also struggle to find an excuse for whatever Jesse is doing. For example, the ice road episode half-heartedly suggests that Jesse must ride the ice road so he can deliver life-saving medicine to remote villagers (apparently the camera crew in the helicopter cannot help with this task). We know he's doing it to challenge himself and provide entertainment, so let's not pretend he's on a humanitarian mission. Finally, I must single out to the police-car-chase episode as an especially bad example of my points, as well as an absurdly staged and edited series of events, accented by a ridiculously fake "real time" play-by-play from a helicopter pilot.

All of this is unfortunate since Jesse James is clearly an accomplished, daring, and talented person, and his various pursuits could be compelling in themselves. I doubt this show will be re-tooled but I hope his next product is a little more honest with itself and the viewer.

In the absence of original humor or clever situations, this movie cobbles together tired and unfunny clichés. Drug humor? Check. Corpse gags? Check. Toilet humor? Absolutely, with visual aids. And of course it's not a British comedy without exposing some male buttocks. Mix in a dwarf (the writers seem to think), and zaniness should ensue. The problem is that all of this revolves around a minimal plot with poorly developed and unlikeable characters. The script contrives the silly situations too hastily, while several peripheral characters keep popping up, as if looking for a purpose in the movie. Because the conflicts and relationships are so superficial, you don't really care if or how it winds up. Although the movie attempts a sappy resolution within the span of about three minutes, many plot threads are left dangling at the end.

One final note: in a telltale sign of a script which has little inherent humor, the creators of this movie try to punch up the zaniness with abundant profanity. In this lame context, that attempt only offends.