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Spoiler Points for Hot Rod (2007) [PG-13] 88 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $9.00
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
If you would like to read the complete review, not the spoiler points, click here
There's not a lot of spoiling that can be done for Hot Rod, however some people have requested to know the ending because the person or persons with whom they were seeing the film wanted to skip out. So, for those, and others who want to know without seeing the film, here you go.
Rod lives!
Ok, it's a comedy so that's probably pretty obvious.
Rod never does successfully complete a stunt without a major mishap.
He does not make the jump across the swimming pool on his moped. Would love for someone to post comments on why Rod has a moped in 2007. Do people outside of the late 70s early 80s still have mopeds? They were kind of a good idea at the time. Get tired while riding your bike? Great, switch over to the mo- in your moped and off you go.
Rod's crew works hard to raise the $5,000 to fund their stunts and a resourceful half brother that he is, Kevin Powell (Jorma Taccone) seals the deal by making an amazing YouTube-esque movie of Rod's stunts. Rod gets the idea to show it at the local theatre and charge admission. The place is packed. Everyone, except step dad Frank (Ian McShane), is excited. The movie starts. Three minutes in, Rod gets the idea that people are laughing at how stupid he is and how unsuccessful his stunts are, that he loses his temper, rushes the projection booth, and tosses the old school three lens, big screen television projector out the window and through the windshield of the projectionist's car. Total damages? You guess it. $5,000 which sets the team back to square one.
Worse, shortly thereafter, mom (Sissy Spacek), decides now is the appropriate time for some reason to tell her son the truth after all. His father was not a professional stuntman after all. The photo of him with Evel Knieval was just a publicity photo taken when E.K. was in town. He took a photo with everyone in the line. And, actually, his father was not killed testing out a super dangerous stunt for E.K. but, rather, he choked on a piece of pie. Equally tragic, but not as glamorous. The reason she didn't spill the beans earlier was that she didn't want to burst his image of his father which he had created as a little kid. She figured it would do no harm.
This news, combined with the failure of the film, causes him to doubt himself and give up on the whole thing. Until, a local AM radio station calls indicating they want to fund the jump and the fund-raiser for Frank. Yippee! The team reassembles.
At the jump site, Rod's crew gives him a new super cool leather suit to wear, and a real-ish motorcycle Dave assembles from what looks like scraps of many bikes. Hot Rod is ready to jump, but it's the kiss from Denise that motivates him. So, he rides the ramps to the top of the jump ramp and lets it roar. He calls upon his totem animal guides and revs off. Soon he's soaring like an eagle looking like he's going to make this jump with ease until the camera pans down and we see that he's soaring and the bike is soaring, but he's no longer anywhere near the bike, he's just flying through the air as if shot from a cannon. Gulp. So, yep they both crash on the other side. Technically, he does make the jump, and after an out-of-body experience where he witnesses a taco fighting a grilled cheese sandwich, he comes to. The crows roars, and the ticker reveals they've met the goal and rasied the $50,000 for Frank's operation.
Frank survives the operation, and six months later, Rod wants to fight him again for his man hood and respect. Rod is ready, even though, the doctors now say that Frank is in better shape than ever. They fight at the family barbeque, and eventually Rod wins holding Frank in a full nelson on the hood of a car and forcing him to say, "You're a man".
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