Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie (2003)

Touches You

Best movie of this year hands down!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

I got this DVD after having seen bits of their humor before. I have seen it at least 5 times since. It just never gets old. Except for Larry TCG the characters do not seem to be acting. Even Larry is convincing a no-class bubba, but I have seen his early work before when he went by his give name (Dan Whitney). He is actually from Nebraska but he makes one great southern bubba (and I am from the deep south, so trust me on this one).These guys all exude their own kind of cool. They are comfortable in their own skins and make you feel like they'd all be fun to hang out with. Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engvall come across as two guys that you would like to have as neighbors or co-workers. Their humor never strays far from everyday life and its unexpected twists. It doesn't have to because they know how to tell a story.Engvall's "here's your sign" jokes (he awards people a "stupid" sign to wear when they do or say something idiotic) and Foxworthy's "You may be a redneck if....." jokes abound and are still funny. Even though the material is a staple of their respective work, they keep updating it with new ones. For the die hard fans these jokes are a must. Foxworthy has some "new" redneck words as well.Ron white, who comes across as a somewhat more intense character, is funny but a bit darker. His shows uses what appear to be real demons from his past to make you laugh, and laugh you will.If I were to make a movie with these guys I'd put it in a used car lot in the deep south with Foxworthy and Engvall as quasi-straight salesmen selling various autos to the same type of people they usually make fun of. White would be the dubious owner and Larry TCG as the mechanic/tow truck driver (there's a stretch). It would be like the movie "Used Cars" meets "Green Acres".

The Blue Collar Comedy Tour came out of nowhere and has blown the comedy world wide open. Between New York City and Los Angeles, there lies America. Maybe the real America, I was born and raised in New Jersey where I still live. It was there that I grew up watching Hee Haw and Mama's Family with great affection. Most Americans live in a Blue Collar World. I think I got tired of shows like Seinfeld, Mad About You, Will and Grace, etc. who never worried about the basic problems that most of us face. Okay, most of us live cutting coupons and scrape by somehow. Hollywood and New York don't realize how expensive it is. Most of us don't have the money to spend on a Broadway show because we don't make six figures. Hollywood is clueless as to understanding American humor. I say that I have a white collar mind but a blue collar job and it's true. I have advanced college degrees. I don't care what your background is neither because even though the men are white, they appeal to the masses and it shows when you see them entertaining crowds from the urban center to city arenas. Larry the Cable Guy still lives in his hometown in Nebraska. Jeff has been under-appreciated by mainstream audiences. See, who's laughing now? Ron White is quite hysterical. Then there is one another guy who I can't recall right now. It's still funny to see David Alan Grier and Heidi Klum in guest roles. People see them because they are not going to be preached at but entertained and leave feeling better about themselves. That's what good comedy it about. Comedy Central is wise repeating these movies. 60 Minutes did a special on Larry the Cable Guy and the Blue Collar Tour. The journal, Peter Simon, seemed puzzled by the appeal. Okay, it's not Seinfeld, thank God. I wouldn't mind these guys coming over to my house for dinner. They're welcome anytime. These guys are not politically correct or savvy and that's fine with me. Who wants politically correctness anyway? It can ruin a perfectly good evening.

I am not a yuppie, country club golfer, or business tycoon. I have been called a redneck among other things, and I went to Agriculture school and am employed as a salesman for a livestock equipment company. I say all that to say this- I am a blue collar North Carolina country boy, and I think this movie just doesn't cut it.RON WHITE- Perhaps the funniest of the comedians featured here (believe me, there's more on the unfunny ones later), Ron White's material deals with small town life in a different way than Foxworthy/Engvall/LTCG. His comedy is more cerebral than the others, so I'm sure that fans of the other 3 won't find White as funny.BILL ENGVALL- Bill Engvall's shtick has worn thin by now. The "Here's Your Sign" bit died in 1996, but don't tell that to Bill. Watching this film, I get the feeling that Bill Engvall thinks he is funnier than he really is. If you can make it through Bill Engvall, here's to ya.LARRY THE CABLE GUY- Larry the Cable Guy I just don't get. His voice is an obvious caricature of the dumb redneck at the gas station and I admit that the first time I saw this movie, I actually thought he was kind of funny, but the more I see his act and hear his voice, the more it grates on my nerves. He has a knack for making up "madder than", "happier than", "meaner than" type quips that some audiences have howled at, but I just scratch my head. The material in this movie isn't so bad and it's not totally unfunny, but if you get a chance (and God help you if you consciously do so) to see Git-R-Done, which is LTCG's full routine, you will see some of the worst comedy ever recorded. And yet, the audiences roar and Larry is hotter than a rocket. Go figureJEFF FOXWORTHY- Foxworthy is now a guilty pleasure. The "You Might Be A Redneck" routine has worn VERY thin by now, and you can even see apprehension on Foxworthy's part when he is going through this bit later in his act. I think it has pigeon holed him as the redneck comic. His stand-up is better than Engvall & LTCG, but the whole bit is nothing new. The guilty pleasure part of all of this is that I can't turn away from Jeff Foxworthy. When he's on the radio, I can't help but listen to the same routines that I've heard a thousand times before. Maybe that is the appeal of Blue Collar comedy.Ironically, I think people who get the biggest kicks out of this aren't rednecks at all. I watched this on Comedy Central with 2 guys- one from Maine, one from New Hampshire- and they laughed like this was the funniest thing they had seen.The beautiful thing about comedy is that it knows no bounds and is broad enough to appeal to every human being on earth. I prefer a Brian Regan or Dennis Miller, while some prefer Chris Rock, David Brenner, or Bob Hope. There is no one alive who doesn't like to laugh and the bottom line is that this is a love-it or hate-it film based on what makes you laugh; there are no gray areas here.

I have never been a fan of stand-up comedy. I believe now that my feelings toward stand-up comedy were based upon the most largely syndicated type seen on cable tv. the kind that targets certain races, disabilities, or religions. what i cannot seem to grasp is how anyone can critisize the humor of these four brilliantly funny men. they tastefully describe their OWN class of people "rednecks" and make jokes that obviously apply to themselves (as seen at the end of the movie when all four comics come together). I personally renound these men for making such a large percentage of the population smile and laugh without making remarks that insult a race (i.e. BET and its stand-up comedy), religion, or social status.