Meet the Deedles

Meet the Deedles is a 1998 American comedy film directed by Steve Boyum in his directorial debut, and starring Paul Walker, Steve Van Wormer, A. J. Langer, John Ashton, Robert Englund, and Dennis Hopper. This was the first live-action film from DIC Entertainment.

Meet the Deedles
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySteve Boyum
Produced by
Written byJim Herzfeld
Starring
Music bySteve Bartek
CinematographyDavid Hennings
Edited byAlan Cody
Production
company
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures[1]
Release date
  • March 27, 1998 (1998-03-27) (United States)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$24 million
Box office$4.4 million[2]

Plot

Fraternal twins Phil (Walker) and Stu (Van Wormer) Deedle live in Hawaii and enjoy a life of leisure living off of their father Elton’s (Braeden) hard earned wealth. After they are reported truant from school so they could enjoy a surf session on their 18th birthday, the school expels them. Frustrated with their laziness Elton enrolls them in a boot camp at Yellowstone National Park, to the horror of the boys.

Arriving on the mainland, they learn that the bootcamp has been shuttered due to lawsuits and the former owner, Major Flowers (Gainey), intends to give them survival training on his own. En route to their camp he accidentally drives them over a cliff, ejecting them from the vehicle. Believing he killed the brothers, Flowers disappears into the forest. Phil and Stu steal clothing from a nearby campsite and proceed downhill by luge to the nearby ranger station. After a collision with the park sign, the responding park rangers misidentify the brothers by the names “Mel” and “Mo” written on clothing tags that they took earlier.

The brothers awaken in the hospital and assume the identities they had been given, learning that Mel and Mo were expected by the station as two highly-touted naturalist recruits to the National Park Service. As they adjust to life at Yellowstone they struggle to adopt Mel and Mo’s apparent foraging lifestyle, while also feebly attempting to accomplish their job as best as they can. Along the way, Phil develops a mutual attraction with Jesse (Langer), a Lieutenant at the station and the stepdaughter of the park’s commanding ranger Captain Pine (Ashton), earning both the brothers Pine’s ire.

Eventually the brothers discover that a disgruntled former park ranger, Frank Slater (Hopper), has masterminded a plan to divert the hydrologic process of Old Faithful through a series of underground pipes into an extinct geyser on land that he owns, ultimately creating a new park that would rival Yellowstone. Slater intends to implement his plan during an anniversary celebration for Old Faithful in hopes that he publicly humiliates Pine in the process.

Later the real Mel (Gasteyer) and Mo (Cavanagh) arrive at the ranger station after being waylaid by various mishaps, and they expose the Deedles as imposters. This upsets Jesse and Captain Pine, leading to the brother's expulsion from the park. Despite this, they still set out to stop Slater from going through with his plan and attempt to infiltrate his base. When they parachute onto his land, they are immediately taken underground to Slater. There, with the help of a prairie dog they befriended earlier, they don protective heat suits and halt the diversion of superheated water to Slater’s geyser “New Faithful” and restore Old Faithful. This incidentally causes a reaction that creates an explosion on Slater’s land, creating a natural wave pool where visitors can surf.

Slater and his henchmen are arrested for their crimes, Phil reconciles with Jesse and the brothers are reinstated into the Park Service. Elton arrives and expresses his pride in their accomplishments, and the brothers along with Jesse go surfing in the newly-created park attraction.

Cast

The film also features cameos from former Oingo Boingo members Steve Bartek, Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez, Carl Graves, and Sam "Sluggo" Phipps as the band at the luau.

The film marked the last feature film appearance of the original Bart the Bear, who became ill in 1998 and died in 2000.

Reception

Reviews for the film were unanimously bad, claiming the film was nothing more than a poor attempt to revive the goofball duo genre of films, like Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Wayne's World, and Dumb and Dumber.[3][4][5] Areas of the film that drew the most criticism were its two-dimensional characters, overuse of surfer slang, ludicrous plot, and questionable morals.[6] The movie has since gone out of print, though it is available for streaming on Disney+ and Amazon Prime as of August, 2020.

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 7% based on reviews from 28 critics. The site's consensus states: "Audiences will be eager to lose The Deedles' number after suffering through this obnoxiously unfunny surfer comedy."[7]

Box Office

The movie was a box office bomb, only grossing $4.4 million against a $24 million budget.[8][9]

Soundtrack

The original music for the film was composed by former Oingo Boingo member Steve Bartek. Most of the songs featured on the soundtrack were from third-wave ska bands, as the genre was at the peak of its popularity at the time of the film's release.

  1. "Wrong Thing Right Then" - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
  2. "Lady Luck" - Dance Hall Crashers
  3. "Seems Like Yesterday" - Goldfinger
  4. "Dr. Bones" - Cherry Poppin' Daddies
  5. "I Can't Wait" - Hepcat
  6. "Psycho Gremmie" - Gary Hoey
  7. "For You" - Save Ferris
  8. "Go Where You Go" - Geggy Tah
  9. "Failing and Leaving" - Radish
  10. "American Girls" - Homie
  11. "Hawaii Five-O" - Perfect Thyroid
  12. "Who Are Those Guys?" - Steve Bartek

References
  1. Loewenstein, Lael (March 23, 1998). "Meet the Deedles".
  2. "Meet the Deedles (1998)". Box Office Mojo. 1998-04-17. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
  3. Ebert, Roger. "Meet the Deedles Movie Review (1998) - Roger Ebert". Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  4. Gates, Anita (1998-03-27). "Movie Review - - FILM IN REVIEW". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2017-01-01.
  5. Loewenstein, Lael (23 March 1998). "Review: 'Meet the Deedles'". Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  6. "Meet The Deedles Review". Movies.tvguide.com. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
  7. "Meet the Deedles (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
  8. RAUZI, ROBIN (30 March 1998). "'Grease' Beats 'Primary' but Doesn't Rock the Boat". Retrieved 1 January 2017 – via LA Times.
  9. WELKOS, ROBERT W. (31 March 1998). "Travolta Films Tail 'Titanic'". Retrieved 1 January 2017 – via LA Times.
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