Publication Date: 07-29-2025

Hot Rod (2007) review

Dir. Akiva Schaffer

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★

The opening scene of Hot Rod feels like it’s setting the scene for a Lonely Island tune to be played. As a matter of fact, that’s how the whole movie feels: like one big music video. An enjoyable one that is a lot of fun, and has a different kind of humor.

Hot Rod is about an aspiring stuntman named Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg) who, in honor of his late father, creates ramps with his lackluster crew (Isla Fisher, Danny McBride, Jorma Taccone, Rainn Wilson) and jumps them with his moped.

His stepfather (Ian McShane) is in need of a heart transplant, so him and his crew participate in jumping fifteen full size school buses and plan to raise $50,000 so Frank can have the surgery. Along the way, they run into obstacles, and minor things test their friendship. But friendship wins every time as one would expect.

Hot Rod is a homage to Evel Knievel, and even knows how to poke fun at itself. In one scene, the announcer at the stadium says something like “We must raise $50,000 for Rod’s step-father’s conveniently priced surgery.” The story itself knows it is nothing new, but it tackles it as if it was.

The Lonely Island is a comedy band on Saturday Night Live who make “Digital Shorts” and music videos that serve as brash stylistic parodies. They have released two studio albums, but they did that after the release of this movie, so at the time of Hot Rod‘s release, not everyone knew who Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer (the director of Hot Rod), and Jorma Taccone were.

I had a lot of fun with the crew in the film. Especially with Jorma Taccone’s character. The whole crew clicked every time they were on screen as everyone understood the assignment of being enjoyably goofy. Rainn Wilson, from Superbad, also has a supporting role as one of the member’s from the crew and it’s hard to hate him when he’s playing the character he is.

Hot Rod could be made into a music video with the title of something like “The Ballad of Rod Kimble.” Pretty much every piece of comedy they bring to the table works, and it makes this comedy pretty cool beans.

OTHER FILMS DIRECTED BY AKIVA SCHAFFER:
My review of The Watch (2012)
My review of Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
My review of Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers
My review of The Naked Gun (2005)

Starring: Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Rainn Wilson, Isla Fisher, Danny R. McBride, and Ian McShane. Directed by: Akiva Schaffer.