Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector (2006)

User Rating:

2.7/10   

Director:

Trent Cooper

Writers (WGA):

Jonathan Bernstein (written by) &
James Greer (written by)

Release Date:

24 March 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

They'll Give Anyone A Badge.

Plot:

A slovenly cable repairman becomes a big-city health inspector and is tasked with uncovering the source of a food poisoning epidemic.

Plot Keywords:

Restaurant | Health Inspector | Food Poisoning | Diner | Undercover

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Larry The Cable Guy	...	Larry
David Koechner	...	Donnie
Michael Papajohn	...	Diner Manager
Phyllis Alexion	...	Old Woman in Diner
Tony Hale	...	Jack Dabbs
Thomas F. Wilson	...	Bart Tatlock (as Tom Wilson)
Iris Bahr	...	Amy Butlin
Eric Esteban	...	Sushi Chef Sakamoto
Brooke Dillman	...	Brenda
Joanna Cassidy	...	Lily Micelli
Rahman Khan	...	Indian Restaurant Manager (as Rahman Kahn)
Megyn Price	...	Jane Whitley
Arian Waring Ash	...	Lingerie Store Manager (as Arian Ash)
Bruce Bruce	...	Big Shug
Tom Hillmann	...	Tad

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, and for language.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #42489)

Filming Locations:

Orlando, Florida, USA

Company:

Full Sail Real World Education

Trivia:

Larry's hat says, "Honky Tonk HTTP Tailgate Party".

Goofs:

Continuity: The position of the syringe in Lily's hand as she is fighting Butlin.

Quotes:

Larry: He's going down faster than a bottle of vodka in Courtney Love's house.

Movie Connections:

References Fireworks (1947)

Soundtrack:

Chain of Fools

An Ernest P. Worrell for the 21st Century ?

I played on a Baptist College baseball team over twenty years ago with Dan "Larry the Cable Guy" Whitney. Even back then he was only a part- time pitcher but a full time clown. I wish he had shifted his focus and concentrated more on his curve ball. If he had then perhaps we would have been spared his first feature length film---"Larry the Cable Guy Health Inspector".

As a "starter" project this movie echoes the transitions made by other comedians-- most notably Jim Carrey (Ace Ventura -Pet Detective) and less notably Rob Schneider (Deuce Bigelow-Male Gigolo). However Dan's talent is probably better compared to the late Jim Varney and his alter ego-- "Ernest P. Worrell". Still, I can much more appreciate Varney's eccentric talents than Dan's stubborn assault on our sensibilities by offering repeated renditions of a stock version of a crude redneck character(or has he broadened this into being somehow representative of "blue collar crude" in an effort to pull some of the population living north of the Ohio River into this movie's prospective demographic?)

In "Health Inspector" Dan manages to exhaust most of the material found in his stand up routine. He also comes up with some new bits- most of which are only incidental variations on his old bits. It's true that he does break some new ground also. We get to see Larry in love through an indirect appeal to pathos. But the sum total of this film, in the end, is that it serves as little more than a woeful compilation of "Larry's the Cable Guy's" rather sloppy rise into the national consciousness.

The touchstone for deciding whether or not you should give "Health Inspector" a chance can be found in Dan's signature stage utterance---"Git r Done". If the humor buried in that expression appeals to you ---then by all means check out the movie. But if the phrase leaves you lost, cold and empty---you had best give the film a pass. For my part, I have never been able to translate "Git r Done" into anything that quite registers as "funny" on my tired brain. But I still went and saw the show anyway. After all, like I said --I used to play ball with this guy in school.