Laugh it up in the theaters

Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles

Director: Simon Wincer

Cast: Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski

The Crocodile Dundee movies have become an uncanny sort of trilogy, following in the footsteps of Indiana Jones. Thanks to Paul Hogan and his endearing Aussie character Mick Dundee, America began its fascination with the Outback (for proof, look at the Outback Steakhouse and the Outback automobile, endorsed by Hogan himself) with the 1986 original, followed quickly by its sequel, Crocodile Dundee II, in 1988. And then a dry spell.

This Friday, Hogan returns to the screen and Mick returns to the states (the second film left him with wife Sue in the Outback) as he follows Sue, played by Linda Kozlowski, to a newspaper job in her father's empire. She employs him to go undercover as an extra at a Los Angeles film studio for an investigative article, and the comic routines and gags begin. Of course, Mick gets into mischief as only he can. Recall the famous scene in which he is threatened by a New York City mugger bearing a switchblade, only to counter with his own weapon, saying with trademark candor, "That's not a knife. This is a knife." And the ladies swoon.

Expect similar humor in the new one, based on Hogan's stand-up comedy of ages past. Had this film immediately followed the previous two, Hogan's shtick might have seemed a bit overdone. But considering that we've had 13 years to miss (or forget about) Mick and his innocent explorations of our modern amenities (the scene with the bidet, need I say more?), Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles just may arrive at an opportune, if not seemingly random, moment in movie history.

Freddy Got Fingered

Director: Tom Green

Cast: Tom Green, Rip Torn, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Drew Barrymore (cameo), Marisa Coughlan, Julie Hagerty, Anthony Michael Hall, Stephen Tobolowsky

Tom Green has pushed the limits of just how much absurdity and vulgarity the public can stomach, from his own show on MTV to a starring role in Road Trip. Imagine what he would do, the lengths to which he would go, given free reign to make his own movie. And we do mean free reign - Green wrote, directed, produced, and stars in Freddy Got Fingered. Yup, it's Tom Green ten feet high and feature length.

And oh, his poor parents. These good-natured and downright saintly role models have obliged Green and his sense of humor more than once. Green's actual parents don't appear in Freddy Got Fingered, but the plot is about a grown man who is a nuisance to his parents. When slacker Freddy, played by Green, moves back home, he discovers a virtual paradise of sloth. He refuses to leave or get a job, prompting a father-son war that reaches nuclear proportions.

Don't go to see Freddy Got Fingered and then complain about being offended, please. You already know if you like Green's comedy or not - if you've been paying attention to mass media at all over the last few years, you've either seen his show or a clip of his antics, especially if you live in a college dorm room. You either laugh out loud or blush and call him grotesque. Or, if you truly get it, you do both. Freddy Got Fingered will be no different from Green's other forays into the media, and will likely find its way into the hearts of many a young Green fanatic.