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MOVIE REVIEW

Out Cold

MPA Rating: PG-13-Rating (MPA) for language, crude and sexual humor, and substance abuse.

Reviewed by: Douglas Downs
STAFF WRITER

Moral Rating: Extremely Offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Teens
Genre: Comedy
Length: 1 hr. 29 min.
Year of Release: 2001
USA Release: November 21, 2001
Jason London and A.J. Cook in “Out Cold”. Photo copyright Touchstone Pictures.
Relevant Issues
Featuring Jason London, Lee Majors, Willie Garson, Zach Galifianakis, David Koechner
Director Emmett Malloy, Brendan Malloy
Producer Lee R. Mayes, Jonathan Glickman, Michael Aguilar, Jon Zack, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Lauren Shuler Donner
Distributor
Distributor: Touchstone Pictures (a division of Disney). Trademark logo.
Touchstone Pictures
, a division of Walt Disney Studios

The expression “out cold” usually refers to a state of unconsciousness. That certainly describes the condition the directors, writers, and actors were in when they made this film. The MPA was also out cold too when they did the final rating on this movie. This film was originally a rated-R project from Disney’s Touchstone Pictures. Some of their other R-rated movies tanked at the box office. Studios have found a gold mine in the “PG-13” rating, but once again I scratch my head and ask myself “where are the boundaries?”

“Out Cold” marked the directorial debut of Emmett and Brendan Malloy. They previously only directed commercials. It is obvious that they are trying to compete with the Farrely Brothers (in the offensive department). This film was also the screenwriting debut for Jon Zack. The Hollywood Reporter said that their goal was to make a classic comedy like “Caddyshack” or “Animal House” (not a standard that I would try to aspire to). The Malloy brothers and Mr. Zack only succeeded in making a classic loser. My biggest disappointment in watching this film was the hard-cold reality of the world of movie distribution. The Christian film “Extreme Days” was not released anywhere in the New England area, but this snowboarding loser is everywhere.

“Out Cold” takes place in Alaska on Bull Mountain. It is your stereotypical Hollywood ski resort—no one really works. They just snowboard, drink beer, then snowboard some more. The films main emphasis was not even on snowboarding. It spent more time and film on alcohol consumption and sex than anything else. Our high-altitude dudes are Rick (Jason London), Luke (Zach Galifianakis), Anthony (Flex Alexander) and Pig Pen (Derek Hamilton). They are about to cross paths with a high-society entrepreneur named John Majors (Lee Majors). Jason London did a decent bit of acting in this flic, but Lee Majors was terrible.

it’s the slobs vs. the snobs in this story of how our Alaskan resort almost became yuppie heaven (complete with latte and hot tubs). “Out Cold” is even worse then the ’84 teen sex comedy “Hot Dog—The Movie.” Mindless and sophomoric would be a complement for complete waste of celluloid. They even throw in a Playboy Playmate for some shameless sexual window dressing. She plays the role of Major’s Swedish stepdaughter. His other daughter, Anna (Caroline Dhavernas), is Rick’s love interest. She once stood him up in Cancun, but since Hollywood has such a small imagination—she shows up in Alaska. I’ll spare you the rest of the very boring details.

This film is loaded with sexual innuendos and sexually explicit physical humor. Not just once, but several times throughout the film. It has partial nudity and several references to the homosexual lifestyle. One of the characters is even applauded for coming-out. There are discussions about lesbian chat rooms and viewers painfully watch two men portraying women on-line. My very strong advice is to skip this film and rent or buy “Extreme Days” when it is released.


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
Negative—This movie was the stupidest movie I have ever seen. I almost walked out. When it was over I was the first one out of that theatre. It is a dumb movie. …I thought it was going to be about snowboarding, Wrong. it’s all about thinking about sex, alcohol, and more thoughts about sex. STUPID MOVIE.
My Ratings: [Very Offensive / 1]
Amanda, age 19
Negative—…I am 15 years old and this movie was one of the worst I have seen. I really enjoyed the snow-boarding scenes but the rest was very disgusting and I am sorry I didn’t walk out when I did. I would encourage other teens not view it.
My Ratings: [Very Offensive / 3]
Amanda, age 15
Positive—Well, to be honest, this movie does have a lot of crude humor and innuendos. They never do anything that you see, they just leave it to the imagination. There are no sex scenes in this movie. No F-WORDS! Very little language at all. just the crude humor and some teen drinking etc. However, this movie is HYSTERICAL! I LOVED EVERY BIT OF IT!! Highly recommend it for TEENS! Around 18 and up.
My Ratings: [Better than Average / 4]
Matt, age 21
Negative—Here is the deal. The movie has drinking, drugs, cleavage, sexual humor, and gays. The language is mild for a PG-13 and as the reviewer said supposedly was gonna be a R. If you don’t want to see/hear any of that then this movie is not for you. I’m 14 and I enjoyed it. Some stuff was bad but overall this is a teen movie. Probably something a parent wouldn’t agree with or for that matter want to see.
My Ratings: [Average / 3]
Anon., age 14
Negative—Cleavage, language, drugs, bad relationships? Yup, that’s “Out Cold”.
My Ratings: [Average / 2]
Matt, age 14