It’s hard to believe it’s been over 20 years since the Trailer Park Boys premiered, but all it takes is one look at the stars of the show and see how old they’ve gotten to know it’s true. The last couple of seasons of the show weren’t as good as the original run was, so it begs the question, will a new movie be able to rekindle the magic from the past? And if it can, are they still relevant today? The answers to both are unfortunately no.

Standing on the Shoulders of Kitties is a stand alone movie that follows the story of Bubbles (Mike Smith). He lives out his dream of being in a band and going on tour.  His latest adventures take him from the trailer park, to the local legion halls of Nova Scotia, to Europe. The film replaces his usual gang of Ricky and Julian with his new band and Billy Bob Thornton, with fellow trailer park sidekick Randy trailing along for laughs.

The first thing to keep in mind is that Bubbles is finally the star of the show. Ricky and Julian are left behind for the majority of the film. Unfortunately, it becomes clear very quickly why he was always the sidekick of the series, and never the star. His voice grates on you, his idiosyncrasies get annoying, and you quickly tire of his antics. In the past you may have felt sorry for him for all the trouble his friends pulled him into, but that empathy doesn’t play into this film. Thankfully the last twenty to thirty minutes have his friends join him in England, and it’s really only then that the laughs return.

One thing to keep in mind for this film however, is how good Billy Bob Thornton is. He plays a version of himself, who really seems to care about Bubbles. His comedic timing is dead on, and his acting is so good, it clearly shows how bad everyone else is. That’s obviously the problem with bringing in an Oscar nominated actor into a low budget movie. It wasn’t so bad when the TV show brought in c-string actors like Tom Arnold or singers like Snoop Dogg, but an A-lister like Thornton shows how low of a production the movie, and the series, really is.

Standing on the Shoulders of Kitties does have its moments that will make you laugh, but most of them come at the end of the movie. For the rest of it, you will probably end up bored and trying to decide if you want to finish it or not. This type of story should make you feel something for the character of Bubbles too, at the very least happy for him, but it doesn’t. You just really can’t take him out of a trailer park without his friends. That can’t bring back the magic of the TV show. The trio of them should just be thankful for what they had and call it a career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FVIePDnHeE