At a gas station in rural West Virginia (is that redundant?), two groups of travelers stop for a top-up. Driving by are Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine), best friends excited about getting to the “vacation home” — that spot being a lake house that gives new meaning to the term “fixer-upper.”
Out of a car amble a group of college students, the males typical frat boys interested in beer, pot and sex, the females typical smokin’ hot blondes constantly rolling their eyes at the immaturity of the boys.
| On screen |
| Tucker & Dale vs. Evil |
| 3 out of 4 stars |
| Stars: Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk |
| Director: Eli Craig |
| Rated: R for bloody horror violence, language and brief nudity |
| Running time: 89 minutes |
It’s a meeting fraught with tension. One of the rednecks can’t help his jaw dropping when he sees the girls stretch their long legs, which are barely covered by their short shorts. And the preps can’t help but be a little creeped out by the bearded guy staring at them.
Tucker, the better looking of the pair, encourages Dale to chat up the girls — they might be impressed by the fact he now has a “vacation home.” Dale responds skeptically: “They grew up with vacation homes and guys like me fixing their toilers.” Tucker tells Dale that college girls “can smell fear.” Offering some sage advice, he tells Dale, “Smile and laugh. It shows confidence.”
Of course, Dale doesn’t know how to appear normal, and his eerie smile and maniacal laugh only make the students more scared. Call it a modern “Pride and Prejudice.” The preppies’ unfounded contempt of Dale will turn out to be a big mistake.
Only here, it’s not their future happiness their pride and prejudice risks, but their futures. When one of the girls, Allison (Katrina Bowden), later falls into the lake, Tucker and the smitten Dale save her. They bring her back to their place to nurse her back to health, much like Jane Bennet recuperated at the Bingleys’. But instead of being grateful, Allison’s friends assume she must have been kidnapped. And in their attempts to save her, they end up, one by one, accidentally killing themselves.
I’m comparing “Tucker & Dale vs. Evil” to Jane Austen’s best-known novel, but most people watching will instead be reminded of “Shaun of the Dead.” “Tucker” is certainly part of the newly invigorated genre of horror-comedy — and it’s almost as good as “Shaun of the Dead,” though it can’t top the recent alien invasion comedy “Attack the Block.”
What it has going for it is a clever script by Morgan Jurgenson and first-time director Eli Craig (who, it must be said, is Sally Field’s son). Even better, though, are the stars, two men who should be on screen far more frequently. Tyler Labine hails from Canada (where, like “50/50,” the film was shot, with the rugged Alberta filling in for West Virginia) and was a chimp-handler in this summer’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” Here he gets a chance to show some range, as a hillbilly with heart. Alan Tudyk is an American best known for playing Brits in “Death of a Funeral” and “A Knight’s Tale.” That means he has a knack for transforming himself, but his interesting face is always recognizable and a welcome sight.
