Yoga Hosers (2016)

Number Rolled: 52

Movie Name/Year: Yoga Hosers (2016)

Tagline: Do your ‘wurst…

Genre: Comedy, Horror

Length: 87 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Production Companies: Abbolita Productions, Destro Films, Invincible Pictures, SModcast Pictures, StarStram Media, XYZ Films

Producer: Thomas Ashley, Joshua Bachove, Nate Bolotin, Charles Sauveur Bonan, Luke Daniels, Elizabeth Destro, Gary Ellis, Tara Finegan, Brendan Garst, David S. Greathouse, J. Andrew Greenblatt, Andrew Heaberlin, John Hinkson, Brandon K. Hogan, William D. Johnson, Jordan Kessler, Cole Klapman, Peter Krikes, Tracey Landon, Kim Leadford, Daniel McCarney, Daniel McGilvray, Steve Meerson, Jordan Monsanto, Tim Nye, Alan Pao, Peter Pietrangeli, Steven Pottash, J.C. Reifenberg, Bill Rogin, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Aram Tertzakian

Director: Kevin Smith

Writer: Kevin Smith

Actors: Lily-Rose Depp, Harley Quinn Smith, Adam Brody, Harley Morenstein, Ashley Greene, Jack Depp, Austin Butler, Tyler Posey, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Justin Long, Tony Hale, Natasha Lyonne, Genesis Rodriguez, Vanessa Paradis, Haley Joel Osment, Ralph Garman, Sasheer Zamata, Johnny Depp, Kevin Conroy, Kevin Smith, Stan Lee, Jason Mewes, Charles Sauveur Bonan, David S. Greathouse, Robert Kurtzman, Christopher Drake, Joel Shock

Stunt Doubles: Jessie Graff, Jesse La Flair, Natalie Strasser

Languages

Speech Available: English

Subtitles Available: English

Blurb from Netflix: With an all-important high school party at stake, two teen yoga fanatics enlist a man hunter to help fight an army of monsters created by Nazis.

Selina’s Point of View:

So terrible and I love it so much.

Let me be clear, ‘terrible’ (in this case) does not mean that it was shot badly or that the acting/directing/writing was bad. It means the film was filled to the brim with pop references, Kevin Smith (Comic Book Men, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Dogma) references and complete ridiculousness. I spent the entire time saying “what the fuck” in the best possible way.

I think as Kevin Smith gets older he gets weirder. I can’t wait to see what he puts out in his eighties. I’ll still be here devouring every film he puts out with a ginormous smile on my face.

I’ll be honest, though, even if Kevin Smith didn’t have anything to do with this film, I would have loved it. Whenever people in the industry get together to just have fun with a project, it tends to come out amazing. This film felt like a bunch of friends just fucking around – and that tends to work because it means no one phones it in.

Johnny Depp (Alice Through the Looking Glass, Into the Woods, Lucky Them) was absolutely unrecognizable. I went back and forth asking myself if that character was actually him the whole movie. That guy is a walking, talking cartoon.

Harley Quinn Smith (Tusk, Jersey Girl, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) and Lily-Rose Depp (Moose Jaws, Quotidien, Vivement dimanche prochain) were both hilarious in this film as well. I’m curious if the girls are interested in continuing on in the entertainment field or if they have dreams that will take them away from the family business. If they do intend to continue on as actors, I would love to see what they could do with some serious parts. Though, sticking to comedy would be a perfectly legitimate choice for them.

Aside from that, there was a marvelous cameo during the film that added credibility to all the comic book references…

In the end, I’d recommend this film in a heartbeat.

Bratzis. Nazis made out of bratwurst. On a scale of one to ten, I can’t. I’m still dying.

Cat’s Point of View:

I have been looking forward to watching this movie ever since it was announced. Imagine my excitement when we finally landed on it for this week!

This film is a sequel, and the middle feature in a trilogy that was launched with the movie Tusk (2014). You could watch this movie on its own, but you wouldn’t get everything out of it without that first flick under your belt. There’s a broad smattering of references both to the earlier movie and epic Easter-eggs.

Three characters from the first movie return to the screen in this sequel. The story doesn’t follow the main characters from that movie. Instead, it picks up a bit after-the-fact within the same world (Canada, eh?) and in tangent to the original story. There are even random cameos that are just simply epic. The 911 dispatcher is probably my favorite. I will say that THE animated Batman makes an in-person appearance. See if you can pick out Kevin Conroy (Batman: Gotham Knight, Batman vs. Robin, Justice League Action) by voice!

This movie is pretty much the final tick mark on a long list of why I now believe that Johnny Depp (Rango, The Rum Diary, Mortdecai) is really an evolved human with shapeshifting abilities. The way he just becomes someone else in such nuanced performances in parts both large and small is just simply amazing to me. I absolutely adore his character of the ‘man hunter’ in these movies. The soft-spoken French-Canadian is absolutely hilarious. He’s such a good ‘straight man’, to use the old comedic term, while absolute insanity is happening to and around him.

I’ve got to say, though – how cool must it have been to be Lily-Rose Depp (Tusk, The Dancer, Planetarium) filming this?! She got to work closely with her dad, her best friend Harley Quin Smith (Clerks II, Holidays, Supergirl), her mom playing the history teacher, and with her little brother being a feisty cereal-munching convenience store kid. Add the rest of the cast and Kevin Smith (Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Red State, Holidays) in there and that set had to have been a riot. Oh to have been a fly on the wall. I can hope there’s some sort of gag reel on the Blu-Ray. I’ll be getting it eventually.

This felt a little bit like a Canadian Clerks (1994) with a broader setting scope and a slice of life of the modern younger generation – with a crazy twist.

This is not a movie that you watch and expect to see award nominations (except maybe in the comedy category). Some of the Canadian accents were a little campy and over the top at times. That being said, if you’re a fan of Smith’s work, this will feel right at home for you. They did a pretty good job staying in the PG-13 range, as well – especially considering they had to literally fight the MPAA for it.

I could ramble on forever about this film and all the familiar faces involved – but the bottom line really is that I loved the movie and will definitely be watching it again (and again) to see what I might’ve missed. This is a must-see for any Smith fan.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 20%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 39%

Netflix’s Prediction for Selina – 4.5/5

Selina’s Trust-the-Dice Score – 5/5

Netflix’s Prediction for Cat – 4/5

Cat’s Trust-the-Dice Score – 5/5

P.S. Harley Quinn and Lily-Rose sing the Canadian anthem during the beginning of the credits. Near the end of the credits there’s an excerpt from Kevin Smith’s podcast.

Movie Trailer: