Set in the 1970s in a metropolis called "Bay City," this is the tale of two police detective partners that are the complete opposites of each other. Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson is almost a criminal rather than a cop, as he seems to have very dirty dealings and not truly believe in the force. While on the other hand Dave Starsky is the strait as an arrow cop that does everything absolutely by the book as he is trying to live up to his mother’s memory a legendary police officer of his precinct. But after they both screw up on what they are doing their boss, Captain Dobey decides to team them up together as he says they deserve each other. Their relationship is far from picture perfect in the beginning as they have nothing in common and cannot seem to find any middle ground. But that is when the come to rely on omniscient street informer Huggy Bear as he tells them there is about to be a major drug deal going down of epic proportions. After, a body floats up on shore they begin to investigate a former college campus drug dealer who has gone on to become a white collar criminal. And after a little investigative work they begin to realize the murder and the drug deal may be connected, but the only problem is can they get along enough to solve the case before they either get murdered or fired.

There for awhile I thought that both Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller had forgotten how to be funny as lately all they have done is one crappy movie after another. I also don’t think they were terribly funny in this movie, I think what was funny was instead the play on the old TV series and how well written the movie was. Neither, Wilson nor Stiller was that exceptional in the movie rather they just seemed to look and feel the part and our imaginations and the writers filled in the rest. Starsky and Hutch is a classic 70’s TV show that was so much part of that era that it is really fun to look back and laugh at the silliness of it all. I do have the feeling though if you are not just a little bit familiar with the series that this movie won’t be very funny to you as it relies on your ability to laugh at the nostalgia and the cheesiness of it all. And, yes the TV series was cheesy and yes the movie is cheesy but that does not mean it isn’t funny. You also could not find a better fit for the role of Huggy Bear than Snoop Dogg as he just seems made for the part and does a really great part playing the pimping 70’s star. The movie does a very good job of mixing its comedy with enough action that most moviegoers will be quite pleased with the finished result. Although if you didn’t like the TV series or are not familiar with it to some degree, and do not have somewhat of a taste for a little cheesiness you may not like the film.
3.5 stars out of 5