"Wild Hogs"

My mom has come down to visit me this weekend!
This afternoon we crossed the state line (I do that at least twice a day on a work day, we live about 5 miles from the Kentucky/Tennessee state line) to see a movie. "Wild Hogs" was more than a rib tickler, it was tear-producing funny. One of those movies you can laugh out loud at, and every one is laughing out loud with you. I have mucho respect for the casting directors, Anne McCarthy and Jay Scully, whose judgement I rarely question. This cast is perfection in action! I have read quite a few negative reviews, mostly from snobbish types, and I am glad, this time, that I chose to find out for myself. I had not laughed that hard, at a movie, in quite some time (though I have to admit, I did laugh out loud at Wanda Sykes' performance as the "sha-woman" in "Brother Bear 2"). I have seen some folks describe it as slapstick humor, and that may be so, though no where near as slapstick as, say, a good Mel Brooks, or Monty Python flick, it did have its prat falls, and faux pas, and some amount of predictability.
The thing that made me laugh silently was the sheer amount of product placement! I have always been interested in marketing, and just loved how completely subtle everything was NOT! From the MacBook Pro's that everyone seems to have, to the "Lumber Liquidators" semi truck (which is huge and yellow and even has the 1800 number on it), name brands are everywhere. The BEST BEST product placement HAS to be for OCC (Orange County Choppers for those of you who don't know)! Could it get any better than Paul SR and Paul JR wearing OCC gear in cameos, or maybe John Travolta's face right next to the tank of one of OCC's custom bikes, with a shot long enough for you to read the OCC logo more than twice.
Maybe no one else would get a kick out of all this, but, in addition to making me laugh out loud it make me chuckle internally, which is at least fun for me, haha.
I am jealous of the art of the movies though, because, almost 5 months after wrecking that motorcycle, going less than 15 mph, my knee still hurts, and I would have loved to have a stunt double for that one! The ability to look like you just flipped over three times, and possibly broke several bones, and then get up and say " I'm alright!" well, that would be just super fine with me!
By the way, if you go see this in the theatre, please please stay seated for the credits, they were just as funny, if not funnier than the rest of the movie.