STARSKY & HUTCH, the charming buddy cop show from 1975-1979 on ABC is now a camp buddy flick starring Ben Stiller as Starsky and Owen Wilson as Hutch. We've seen their shtick before; this is the pair's sixth film together after all. But here everything they do seems to click.

        For the most part, the film Starsky & Hutch is a collection of sight gags heavily laced with gay jokes, either overt or implied, loosely combined to create a movie. As such plot is not nearly as important as the camp interaction between the protagonists or the spoof of the then top-rated television drama. The filming techniques pay deliberate homage to a 70's made-for-TV movie. And Owen Wilson emulating David Soul's success with the hit love song "Don't give up on us baby" is fun for lovers of 70's pop culture.

        Stiller is the uptight Starsky who does everything by the book. Wilson's Hutch can uphold or break the law; whichever will bring him greater financial gain. Like any odd couple, Starsky and Hutch cannot possibly get along and yet they do. Their bonding begins around a flashy red car with big white stripes and a souped up engine. It's Starsky's baby, the Gran Torino.

        The car is a star, but nothing like Snoop Dogg who steals the show as Huggy Bear. Movie star is the newest wrinkle in Snoop's checkered career, from violent rap, to a murder trial, to a clothing designer, and now comic straight man Huggy Bear. My favorite Huggy moment is when he goes undercover as a caddy, sporting a most excellent Afro and "wired" with a microphone, batteries and wireless receiver about twice the size as his torso.

        Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell enjoy themselves as the bad guy and the stool pigeon respectively. Juliet Lewis is fun as the baddies bit on the side. But the film belongs to Stiller, Wilson, and Snoop.

        From the outset Starsky & Hutch establishes its parameters. The goal here is to have fun. Those of us who loved Starsky and Hutch in the 70s can reminisce as we laugh, fondly remembering where we were then. Those too young to remember the past will enjoy the silliness for what it is.

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