LARRY THE CABLE GUY: HEALTH INSPECTOR — * — Dan Whitney, Joanna Cassidy, Joe Pantoliano; PG-13 (vulgarity, sex, profanity); Century Theatres 16 (Sandy); Century Theatres 16 (South Salt Lake); Cinemark 24 at Jordan Landing.
Larry the Cable Guy has a stand-up's timing and a non-Southerner's grasp of what makes the Southern-fried redneck — his attitudes, attire and accent — hilarious.
The native-Nebraskan makes lines like "She wuz so ugly she could trick 'r treat over the telephone" sing.
His movie, slipped into theaters without previews, has some of what makes Larry funny in it. Some, but not nearly enough.
"Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector" sets up the redneck's redneck as a hamhocked, ham-armed and pig-bellied good ol' boy who keeps diners safe in an unnamed Southern city (it was filmed in Orlando last summer).
Larry, a k a Sanford, Fla.'s Dan Whitney, drives his mudder pick'em-up truck, the one covered in American flag, gun-nut and Hooters bumper stickers, lets his jeans ride too low, wears his sleeveless flannel shirts and lets loose with his trademark redneck riffs as he tries to solve a series of food poisonings leading up to a citywide "cook off."
Those who find Larry offensive (comic Steve Hofstetter named his new CD "Cure for the Cable Guy") won't have much to vent about here, other than "cripple" jokes and little tweaks of homophobia. Hey, it's the character, not the actor! And Larry is a hoot, in moments, here and there, long before the slapdash finale. Or slapdash middle.
Team Cable Guy has made a junky, throwaway comedy that will almost certainly appeal to his fans, for at least the first half hour. Then it runs out of gas. Or jokes. The gas Larry seems to have in no short supply.
"Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector" is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, and for language. Running time: 89 minutes.