Comedy, as the man said, is a subjective thing. One person's National Lampoon's Animal House is another's Half Baked. Attempting to fashion a funny movie that appeals to a wide swath of the population is extremely tricky to pull off and very few filmmakers consistently do. Trailer Park Boys, a cult Canadian series making the leap to the big screen, isn't a movie that's you'd find raking in large amounts of dough at the box office, but in a way, that doesn't really matter. It's the sort of small, relentlessly quirky project that will live on through word of mouth on college campuses everywhere.

Directed by Mike Clattenburg and written by Clattenburg and Robb Wells, Trailer Park Boys: The Movie is a loose hybrid of sorts. Blending the occasional documentary touches (having the characters be interviewed) and dry, Office-style setpieces, Trailer Park Boys tells the tale of pals Ricky (co-writer Wells), Julian (John Paul Tremblay) and Bubbles (Mike Smith), all of whom reside in the shabby Sunnyvale trailer park. Ricky and Julian are fresh out of jail and already looking for the next score.

Well, Ricky's looking for the next, as he puts it, "big dirty." Julian's looking for change -- which turns out to mean literal change, as the fellas concoct a scheme to steal untraceable coins from a mall multiplex. In broad daylight. With two inept accomplices. Did I mention Bubbles is really, really attached to his cats?

On and on it goes -- Trailer Park Boys: The Movie fills in the margins with diverting asides and colorful characters, but aside from a laugh-out-loud moment or two, there are long stretches where inventive profanity is sprayed about the screen and not much else happens. The characters are the main draw here and none of the three leads disappoint -- you just find yourself wishing they had something to do besides stand around and spout potential catchphrases.

But there are those out there who will probably pick up Trailer Park Boys: The Movie and find it to be one of the funniest films they've seen in some time. Comedy works in mysterious ways ... what can I say?

The Video:

Presented in an anamorphic widescreen transfer of its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, Trailer Park Boys: The Movie looks charmingly ragged, with plenty of handheld shots and loose framing. However, the transfer cannot be accurately judged owing to Screen Media Films' supplying a screener disc rather than final product. Should final product be provided to DVD Talk, this rating will be revised to reflect the quality of the image.

Fueled by profanity-laden non sequiturs and a love of mangled language, the Dolby Digital 5.1 track doesn't languish; again, given Screen Media Films' screener copy, it's hard to accurately assess the quality of the soundtrack, but there were no glaring deficiencies apparent. Optional Spanish subtitles are available.

Sadly, no commentary, but a few supplements worth checking out. A total of 18 deleted scenes (presented in anamorphic widescreen) are playable separately or all together, for an aggregate of 22 minutes, 24 seconds. A 22 minute, 37 second behind-the-scenes featurette (presented in fullscreen), along with seven alternate takes (presented in anamorphic widescreen) are playable separately or all together for an aggregate of nine minutes, four seconds and seven "lost interview" segments (presented in anamorphic widescreen) are playable separately or all together for an aggregate of four minutes, one second.

Comedy, as the man said, is a subjective thing. One person's National Lampoon's Animal House is another's Half Baked. Attempting to fashion a funny movie that appeals to a wide swath of the population is extremely tricky to pull off and very few filmmakers consistently do. Trailer Park Boys, a cult Canadian series making the leap to the big screen, isn't a movie that's you'd find raking in large amounts of dough at the box office, but in a way, that doesn't really matter. It's the sort of small, relentlessly quirky project that will live on through word of mouth on college campuses everywhere. It just didn't do much for me. Rent it.