Tripping the Rift: The Movie (2008)

Director: Bernie Denk

Writers: Mark Amato, Ken Goin, Lanier Laney, John Minnis, Terry Sweeney

Composer: Mario Sevigny

Starring: Stephen Root, Maurice LaMarche, Jenny McCarthy, John Melendez, Gayle Garfinkle, Rick Jones, Danny Blanco Hall, Daniel Brochu

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Star Wars meets South Park

Plot: What begins for Chode and crew as a routine mission to protect a pissed-off princess will soon become a filth- splattered saga of dismembered royalty, indestructible clown assassins and desperately horny housewives. What vile act has Chode committed to bring down the ultimate wrath of Bobo? Can Gus, Six, T'nuk, Whip and Bob stop a time-traveling killing machine from ruining a booze-soaked birthday party? How much does a lap- dance cost at the Grope-A-Cabana on Omicron 9?

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

It seems like forever ago when I first heard of TRIPPING THE RIFT when I saw the original 2000 short.  I'd heard of a TV series and this movie coming out of it but I never saw anything else until now.  From my fondness of the short to the great voice cast, I thought for sure this would be a whole lot of fun.  It's nicely done from a technical standpoint.  It looks good, the voice acting is great and at no point was I bored.  BUT then again it's not nearly as funny as it should be.  I dug the countless movie references.  Those were fun but it's not enough. You need to have some genuine laughs for this to sustain the short 74 minute run time.  I found it amusing but with talent like this, you want to shoot higher than mildly entertaining.  If more time had been spent on the script they probably would've achieved that.