Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector

Year: 2006 (USA)
Genre: Comedy/Gross-Out Comedy
Directed: Trent Cooper
Stars: Larry the Cable Guy, Iris Bahr, Megyn Price, Tony Hale, Thomas F. Wilson, Brooke Dillman, Joanna Cassidy
Production: Parallel Pictures


Larry the Cable Guy reminds me of the idiot on the high school debate team who seemed to win his competitions winging-it. You know the guy; he’s the one who can’t spell Amazonian but manages to win the audience by saying the phrase “save the rainforest because…trees and s***.” So it goes Daniel “Larry the Cable Guy” Whitney has been catapulted to superstardom being a singularly obnoxious character comedian. His routine is infused with false goofball bravado and a bloated sense of self; callously “standing up” for red blooded Americans who drive a beat-up pickup truck and eat Hot Pockets for lunch out of a tin pale.

There is no liberal conspiracy

I get it Middle America; Hollywood and the media are overwhelmingly liberal so out of the assortment of comedians you have to latch on to your mascot. But why would you plague us with this gleefully ignorant, aggressively offensive, boar? This film (which made a hefty profit), along with his comedy albums, standup tours and voice work for Pixar has elevated this guy’s credibility. You've created a monster!

If you need proof of dear Larry’s now unstoppable stupidity, look no further than his 2006 film Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector. He plays a city official who isn't particularly good at his job and doesn't really take his job seriously. So why do we care about this guy? Good question. Because of his unorthodox methods Larry is partnered with a by-the-books partner (Iris Bahr) who he constantly dubs a man due to her choice in wears and lack of voluptuousness. Funny. He then goes to a variety of ethnic restaurants with his new partner making imbecilic comments about restaurant owners and workers though because they’re familiar with his banter the heed no mind. Funny. He also annoys his coworker Jack (Tony Hale) who is a paraplegic. Funny. He bungles into a mystery involving poisoned food before a local cuisine competition involving people in their Sunday best barfing and farting. Funny. Oh and there’s the love story which starts with Larry staring at shop worker Jane (Megyn Price) as she removes the bras off of mannequins.

Again...so f***ing funny!

 Actually no…no…not funny at all! The cardinal rule of a comedy is be funny which this film is resoundingly not. Larry’s character cannot provide any cleverness, insight, intuition or even irony. The man tows the line between amiable redneck and ugly American managing to isolate all but his most die hard fans. He slings his brand of gross-out humor with a soupcon of racism and sexism but any time it gets blatantly offensive he falls back into “I’m-just-doing-me” mode as the supporting characters catch him by being strawmen or shoulder shrugging bystanders.

Comedians like Groucho Marx did the thick shtick with a clever pomposity that irked the victims of his command of the English language. Jerry Lewis wasn't as sharp or presumptuous but he brought physicality to the fool role which was copied to great success by the likes of Jim Carrey. Larry the Cable Guy brings nothing to the table. His interpretation of the ignorant fool is one of a sad, second-hand Don Quixote. He looks to exemplify an ideal that never existed nor should; an Amrican who lacks all beneficial qualities but gumption and adulates his own numb-nut-ness while chomping down Moon Pies and day old pizza crust.

Classic! Classic I say!

The saddest part about Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector is that despite naughty language, reference to bodily functions, sex and Kid Rock, the film got a PG-13 rating guaranteeing young people have and will see this asinine movie. In my youth when I lacked good taste I thought films like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) and Happy Gilmore (1996) were the best I've ever seen. Even today I will defend their quality while acknowledging serious filmgoers will dismiss them and deride me for them. It saddens me to think out there somewhere there are youngsters willing to defend Heath Inspector. Worse still is the notion that as they get older Health Inspector will crystallize in their minds with other “cherished” childhood memories.

Final Grade: F