Movie Review: 'Klown' -- 3 stars

Klown
3 stars
Directed by Mikkel Norgaard
Starring Frank Hvam, Casper Christensen, Marcuz Jess Petersen
Rated R

You might think you've already seen "Klown" countless times. And in one sense you have. Many big-screen, thirty-something male buddies before main characters Frank and Casper have hit the road for one last chance to bond in freedom, before the burdens of domesticity take hold.

But director Mikkel Norgaard offers a distinctly Danish spin on the familiar premise here, crafting it with a deadpan sensibility, a full-on embrace of taboos and a charmingly withdrawn 13-year-old accomplice named Bo (Marcuz Jess Petersen). The movie could be dismissed as "The Hangover" meets "Two and a Half Men," set on a canoe, but that'd be unfair.

Actors Frank Hvam and Casper Christensen play the namesake protagonists, who are about to embark on a long-awaited canoe trip. Intended as a womanizing venture, the journey takes on a new purpose when Frank brings along Bo, his pregnant girlfriend's shy nephew, so he can demonstrate his fathering skills.

The screenplay wades through a stream of absurd situations during the trip, but Norgaard treats them with an earnest, understated hand that keeps the focus rooted on the characters. Hvam, nerdy and matter-of-fact, makes an ideal foil for the over-stimulated Christensen, while some of the Frank-Bo scenes are downright touching. Given the sheer volume of unprintable stuff that happens over the course of "Klown," that's quite an achievement.