Bait Shop DVD Review

Bill (Bill Engvall, The Blue Collar Comedy Tour, The Bill Engvall Show) is a small town bait shop owner. His business is failing miserably, the only customers, a group of free loading regulars who cannot afford to pay for their beers. Bill also employs a pair of employees, a greasy spoon cook, who happens to be in love with the local mail man, and a homeless handyman named Odd Job.

At home, Bill is forced to deal with his enormously successful father in law, the Mattress King himself, who frequently drops by unannounced donning lavish gifts. Bill also has an incredulous wife and a son who could not careless about him.

Bill is for all intensive purposes the quintessential loser.

Things go from bad to worse for Bill when he receives a final notice from his bank stating that he owes them $15,000 in a week. Almost immediately afterward, a new business, a fishing mega mart opens across the street. Owned by sport fishing’s biggest names, Hot Rod Johnson (Billy Ray Cyrus, Hannah Montana, Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds).

Now, in one last ditch effort, Bill, at the prodding of his friends, decides to take on the insurmountable task of taking on Hot Rod Johnson at his own game in order to win the $50,000 in prize money.

As would be expected, our lovable loser must overcome a great deal of odds and faces even greater difficulties in his attempt to save his family, livelihood and his normally unflappable spirit.

Bait Shop follows the very formulaic underdog comedy format. The Bill character is set up to be the absolute definition of lovable loser, and Bill Engvall does a spectacular job at making himself out to be the loser. His performance is spot on, a combination of self deprecation and his being overwhelmed by everyday life. In stark juxtaposition, Billy Ray Cyrus as Hot Rod Johnson is obnoxious and a blowhard. The Hot Rod Johnson character is beyond painful. Billy Ray Cyrus is over the top and actually hurts. His performance is flat at best, that, mixed with the awful pantomime of fishing he does repeatedly, as well as the incessant references he makes of himself in the third person makes it just too much to bear.

In the end, Bait Shop is entertaining for sure, but is a brief sojourn into comedy. There are a few humorous sight gags and Engvall is good, but in the end, it is first and foremost, a film about competitive fishing.

Bait Shop on DVD features the full length film, presented in anamorphic widescreen and featuring a 5.1 stereo surround soundtrack. The DVD also boasts several additional features including deleted scenes, a gag reel and several featurettes, including Another Day in Paradise and Opening the Bait Shop. The DVD also features a cardboard sleeve, an addition that appears to becoming a more commonplace addition.