Beerfest

See also: Beer Festival

Beerfest
Directed by	Jay Chandrasekhar
Produced by	Bill Gerber Richard Perello
Written by	Broken Lizard
Starring	Jay Chandrasekhar Kevin Heffernan Steve Lemme Paul Soter Erik Stolhanske
Music by	Nathan Barr
Editing by	Lee Haxall
Studio	Legendary Pictures Broken Lizard
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	August 25, 2006 (2006-08-25)
Running time	117 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$17.5 Million
Box office	$20,387,597

Beerfest is a 2006 beer-themed comedy film by the comedy group Broken Lizard. Along with the regular members of Broken Lizard, other actors who appear in the movie include Will Forte, M. C. Gainey, Cloris Leachman, Kendra C. Johnson, Jürgen Prochnow, Donald Sutherland, and Willie Nelson.

Beerfest was filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Plot

At the funeral of their German-born grandfather Johann von Wolfhausen (Donald Sutherland), brothers Jan and Todd Wolfhouse (Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske) discover that family tradition demands they travel to Munich during Oktoberfest to spread his ashes on the Theresienwiese.

Gam Gam (Cloris Leachman), gives them two tickets to Munich, where a Mr. Schniedelwichsen (Bjorn Johnson; the fictional name "Schniedelwichsen" translates to a masturbatory joke in German) will take them to the family resting place. While waiting for Schniedelwichsen after their arrival, the brothers unintentionally start a brawl that takes down an entire Oktoberfest tent. Schniedelwichsen leads Jan and Todd to Beerfest, an underground drinking game tournament run by Baron Wolfgang von Wolfhausen (Jürgen Prochnow). The triumphant German national team is furious that Schniedelwichsen would bring outsiders to the contest, so he is shot. Jan and Todd discover that the von Wolfhausens are related to the Wolfhouses. The German team reveals that Johann was a stable boy who stole the recipe for "the greatest beer in all ze world" decades ago and ran away with his prostitute mother, Gam Gam. The Germans celebrate an easy win over Jan and Todd in a drinking contest and urge the audience to pelt Jan and Todd with vegetables, destroying the urn containing their grandfather's ashes and spilling them all over the brothers.

Swearing to get revenge on the Germans, Jan and Todd return to Colorado, where they recruit college drinking friends for an American Beerfest team:

• Phil "Landfill" Krundle (Kevin Heffernan), an overweight former brewery employee and competitive eater;
• Charlie "Fink" Finklestein (Steve Lemme), a nerdy Jewish scientist with extensive knowledge of beer and chemistry
• Barry Badrinath (Jay Chandrasekhar), an amazingly frequent winner of drinking games but currently a homeless male prostitute.

During the team's year of drinking training, Jan and Todd find out their grandfather did not steal the family beer recipe. Before the Baron Wolfhausen of the time died, he hid the recipe in a doll he gave the boy Johann before Gam Gam took him to the U.S. Since he was the Baron's first-born child, Johann was the rightful heir to the family brewery in Bavaria. The team uses the rediscovered recipe to brew Schnitzengiggle Beer for the first time in over a generation. It is easily the best beer they have ever tasted (being so delicious that it makes them cry).

After the German team receive a bottle of Schnitzengiggle in the mail, the Wolfhausen clan goes to America to confront their Wolfhouse cousins and snatch the recipe using various tactics. Disguised as a nurse for Gam Gam, a spy named Cherry (Mo'Nique) (who had sex with Barry while he was in a beer goggles state of inebriation from drinking the family beer) presumably steals the recipe. When Landfill discovers her true identity, Cherry makes him fall into a beer vat, where he dies trying to drink his way out. The team decides to disband, but suddenly, Landfill's very talented twin brother, Gil (also played by Heffernan), shows up and asks to join the team and be called "Landfill" as tribute to his brother.

In Germany, Jan and Todd have forgotten where Beerfest is held. Getting Todd drunk, though, jogs his memory through what is referred to as "Drunken Recall". The team uses an empty wooden keg as a Trojan Horse to get inside, where they emerge to boos and jeers. The Americans are allowed to participate after Jan and Todd show how uncannily they resemble the two Beerfest founders, thus convincing the crowd of their von Wolfhausen ancestry. In the finals (bootline chug), Cherry tells Gil at a crucial moment how his brother Phil died, causing Gil to crack and the Germans to win.

Jan, still unaware that Cherry stole the recipe, offers the Germans a double or nothing chance. If the Germans win, they get the recipe; if the Americans win, they get the Bavarian brewery. The Germans tell Jan they already have the recipe and thus no need for a rematch, but Fink points out the stolen recipe is the wrong one, which prompts Wolfgang to have Cherry killed. When one of the von Wolfhausens knocks off Fink's yarmulke, he enters into a state of purely concentrated rage (the "Eye of the Jew", in which his left eye turns into a glowing Star of David) which allows him to coach the team to victory, barely gaining the win when the German team's anchor fails to finish "Das Boot" (Boot of beer). A single drop falls from it, disqualifying the German team.

The team celebrates in Amsterdam, where they bump into Willie Nelson (in a cameo role). Because Willie's marijuana-smoking tournament teammates, Cheech and Chong, were not able to attend the contest, Nelson invites the Beerfest team to join him and they gladly do so. The film ends with a smoke-filled screen and the words "Coming Soon - Potfest".

Cast

Paul Soter	Jan Wolfhouse
Erik Stolhanske	Todd Wolfhouse / Young Baron Ludwig
Cloris Leachman	Great Gam Gam Wolfhouse
Donald Sutherland	Johann von Wolfhaus
Jay Chandrasekhar	Barry Badrinath
Kevin Heffernan	Phil "Landfill" Krundle / Gil "Landfill" Krundle
Blanchard Ryan	Krista Krundle
Steve Lemme	Steve "Fink" Finkelstein
Jürgen Prochnow	Baron Wolfgang von Wolfhausen
Nat Faxon	Rolf
Will Forte	Otto
Eric Christian Olsen	Gunther
Ralf Möller	Hammacher
Gunter Schlierkamp	Schlemmer
Mo'nique	Cherry
MC Gainey	Priest
James Roday	German messenger

Potfest

Despite the statement at the end of Beerfest that Potfest is "coming soon", Broken Lizard intended this as a joke to get publicity. They have stated both that fans were very supportive of the title and that Broken Lizard may decide to make an animated film of the same name.

Different versions

Two versions of the movie have been released: The theatrical version and the unrated version. The unrated version mainly shows more scenes of plot and runs ten minutes longer than the theatrical version. Altogether eight scenes have been added.

Reception

The film scores 39% on the film-critic aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 104 reviews.

External links

• Official website
• Beerfest at the Internet Movie Database
• Beerfest at Box Office Mojo
• Beerfest at Rotten Tomatoes