Tucker and Dale vs the evils of redneck prejudice

When you sit down to watch Deliverance, The Hills Have Eyes or Wrong Turn, spare a thought for the poor, unfortunate hillbillies maligned in such movies.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil tries to redress the balance by casting the rednecks as the innocent victims. Do our hapless heroes succeed in defending their home from hordes of rabid townies? Hit the jump to find out:


Tucker and Dale vs Evil is a film of two halves. The first sees Wash from Firefly and Steve The Pirate himself, Alan Tudyk, and Reaper's Tyler Labine as the two, titular, hopelessly-clueless rednecks fixing up a log cabin they've bought as a holiday home. While out fishing one night, they happen across a bunch of college kids skinny dipping. One of the girls is startled and falls, hitting her head. Our heroes rescue her and take the unconscious girl back to their cabin for first aid. The college kids, convinced that Tudyk and Labine are the kind of trailer trash you might find in I Spit On Your Grave, try to rescue their friend. Various incidents of slapstick bumbling follow, each culminating in the death of one of the college kids and the remainder becoming even more convinced that Tudyk and Labine mean them harm.

Eventually, the kids "rescue" their friend and decide she's been brainwashed by the rednecks, leading our hapless hillbillies to set off after them to rescue her back. This shift in pace for the latter half of the film moves Tudyk and Lavine from misunderstood antagonists to outright heroes and the townies from clueless morons to dastardly villains. The change of tack is jarring and a little far fetched, but, by this point, you're already invested in a great little film.

Tudyk is always a sure bet, but, despite being the brains of the operation, it's Labine who's the star here. Starting out as a dim-witted sidekick, he soon shines through as a lovable buffoon and underdog hero. His romance with college damsel Katrina Bowden is so sweet you'll want it to be plausible, no matter how unlikely it is.

Indeed, the film's slapstick, farcical scenario is carried through by clever dialogue and an infectious energy. The down-to-earth attitude of the courageous crackers and their own incredulity at the situation carries off a multitude of unlikely plot developments. This a such a lovable movie that it's hard to care about its throwaway nature, and the message that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover is works both as a comic play on Hollywood stereotypes and a pertinent lesson for modern society.