In 2005, actor Vince Vaughn gathered together a handful of comedians from The Comedy Store in Hollywood - Ahmed Ahmed, John Caparulo, Bret Ernst and Sebastian Maniscalco - built an extended stand-up show around their acts, then took it on the road for a 30-city-in-30-day whirlwind tour across the United States, starting in Los Angeles and ending in Chicago, with 28 stops in between. Vaughn also brought a few documentary filmmakers along for the ride, the result being "Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show," an at best fair-to-middling account of that event.
Some of the backstage stuff is of moderate interest - particularly the comics offering a free show to some Hurricane Katrina refugees and Ernst's touching reflections on his older brother who died of AIDS. But one can only hope that we're not being treated to the best of the on-stage material here. For if truth be told, there aren't nearly as many laughs to be gleaned from these performances as one might expect given the caliber of talent involved. At best, the routines elicit a few hearty chuckles, along with a surprising number of humor-deprived dead spots. The behind-the-scenes activities are marginally more entertaining (the interviews with the boys' families are sometimes quite informative and amusing), but the movie doesn't provide nearly the depth of insight into the world of standup comedy that, say, Jerry Seinfeld's "Comedian" did a few years back.
Still the guys in the group are likable enough and their camaraderie ultimately becomes infectious, earning the movie at least a lukewarm recommendation, especially for devotees of the subject.
Some of the backstage stuff is of moderate interest - particularly the comics offering a free show to some Hurricane Katrina refugees and Ernst's touching reflections on his older brother who died of AIDS. But one can only hope that we're not being treated to the best of the on-stage material here. For if truth be told, there aren't nearly as many laughs to be gleaned from these performances as one might expect given the caliber of talent involved. At best, the routines elicit a few hearty chuckles, along with a surprising number of humor-deprived dead spots. The behind-the-scenes activities are marginally more entertaining (the interviews with the boys' families are sometimes quite informative and amusing), but the movie doesn't provide nearly the depth of insight into the world of standup comedy that, say, Jerry Seinfeld's "Comedian" did a few years back.
Still the guys in the group are likable enough and their camaraderie ultimately becomes infectious, earning the movie at least a lukewarm recommendation, especially for devotees of the subject.