A KEG FULL OF BAD BEHAVIOR IN `BEERFEST'.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

The comedy troupe Broken Lizard, which brought us ``Club Dread'' and ``Super Troopers,'' makes it three strikes with ``Beerfest.''

They've quite evidently poured a lot of beer into this project, but it isn't very festive.

How can a movie that's all about drinking and acting idiotic not be fun, you may well ask. Well, by turning it into a dopey parody of sports films, where chugging brew becomes something to practice, like weightlifting, not enjoy, like getting blitzed.

That's how.

Oh, and straining to be funny at every moment when, basically, your whole team isn't all that clever dampens the fun effect, too. As in all Lizard product, the amusing-to-lazy joke ratio is about 1-to-10 here, so there are some laughs to be had. But sitting through so many lame gags to get to the good ones only makes ``Beerfest'' feel like more of a chore.

The plot, which sometimes makes sense but usually doesn't, goes as follows: brothers Todd and Jan Wolfhouse (Lizards Erik Stolhanske and Paul Soter) carry their deceased granddad's ashes to Munich to spread them over Oktoberfest, according to family tradition.

In Bavaria, they stumble into the underground beer-drinking competition known as Beerfest and, representing America in a de facto kind of way, are humiliated by the German team -- which happens to be composed of the Von Wolfhausen family, their Old World cousins who despise the U.S. branch for various contrived reasons (some having to do with beer).

Anyway, back in the States, Todd and Jan vow to defeat the Wolfhausens at the next Beerfest. So they gather a world-class drinking squad -- which means their buddies, played by the other three Lizards, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme and Jay Chandrasekhar (who also directed the movie, if you want to call haphazardly stringing embarrassing situations together directing).

Too much of ``Beerfest'' is then devoted to five guys trying to increase their liquid grain intake capacities and hone their quarter-flipping skills. It doesn't look enjoyable.

There is belching, naturally, and urinating, more naturally, and yodeling, for those who find such things uproarious.

The blouses of young women come off with regularity, but the only females permitted traces of personality are the Wolfhouse brothers' great grandmother (Cloris Leachman), who does outrageous old gal duty with a couple of sausages, and Mo'Nique, doing the Mo'Nique thing she always does.

Juergen Prochnow has fun with his stern ``Das Boot'' image as the patriarch of the European clan, and ``Saturday Night Live's'' Will Forte stands out as the silliest, sneeringest example of the German stereotypes on display.

Good for a few giggles, some of that stuff. But you'll probably have more laughs over a couple cold ones at the neighborhood bar than you will at ``Beerfest.''

BEERFEST - Two stars

(R: nudity, sex, language, violence, drug use)

Starring: Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Will Forte, Cloris Leachman, Juergen Prochnow, Mo'Nique.

Director: Jay Chandrasekhar.

Running time: 1 hr. 50 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: Could be funny if you're really drunk.

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Photo:

Paul Soter, left, and Erik Stolhanske are brothers Jan and Todd Wolfhouse, who encounter their beer-loving Old World cousins the Von Wolfhausens during Oktoberfest in ``Beerfest.''