Le Festi-Bière

From the first few minutes on "Beerfest" heads straight into debauchery without making any excuses for it. However, this movie is closer to classic National Lampoon movies such as "Animal House" or "European Vacation" than to the vulgar sex-comedies that have been so popular ever since "American Pie". Make no mistake, "Beerfest" is full of nudity, dick jokes and all kinds of deliberate lowbrow humor. The difference to aforementioned sex-comedies is that "Beerfest"'s stupidity is much more self-aware and also aimed at an audience that understands this and can laugh about it from one step away. Or to make it sound less pretentious: this comedy has a lot of heart. When Germans are merely primitive giants in this movie it's clear that this is a comedic stereotype that must not be taken seriously by any means. The Germans and the depiction of German traditions is really the highlight of this movie.

Like Broken Lizard's previous theatrical adventure "State Troopers" this one is mindless, silly fun with a great cast, but all in all "Beerfest" is the better movie. Not a classic, but very enjoyable.