Starsky & Hutch (2004)
The original Starsky & Hutch ran on American television from 1975 to 1979, and for a good stretch of those four series it was one of the most-watched programmes on either side of the Atlantic. Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul made the mismatched-partners formula feel genuinely fresh, and the red-and-white Ford Gran Torino became as recognisable a piece of popular culture as the theme tune. By the time Hollywood started rummaging through its archive of beloved TV properties in the early 2000s, a big-screen version was more or less inevitable. Whether it needed to exist is a different question, but Warner Bros. and Dimension Films clearly thought the brand had enough nostalgic pull to justify the exercise, and the film duly arrived in cinemas in March 2004.
Todd Phillips was the director handed the keys. At that point he had built a reputation on broad, cheerfully anarchic comedy, having already made Road Trip (2000) and the rather more successful Old School (2003), the latter of which had turned Will Ferrell into a bona fide comedy star almost overnight. Phillips is a director who understands how to stage a joke and how to keep an ensemble moving at pace, even if depth and subtlety have rarely been his primary concerns. The screenplay came from John O'Brien and Scot Armstrong, and the approach from the outset was parody as much as homage, leaning into the decade's particular fondness for affectionate but broadly comic takes on its own recent past. The budget was a comfortable studio figure, unremarkable by the standards of the era, and the production had enough resources to dress the period convincingly and pull off some properly handled practical stunt work.
The casting was always going to shape everything about this film. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson had already demonstrated strong chemistry together, not least in Meet the Fockers (2004) and its predecessor, and their pairing here follows a well-worn template: Stiller wound tight, Wilson loose and genial, the two of them bouncing off each other with the kind of polished but unremarkable rhythm that comes from repetition rather than inspiration. Vince Vaughn plays the main antagonist, Reese Feldman, with his usual motor-mouthed swagger, and Fred Williamson, a genuine piece of 1970s action cinema history, lends a welcome note of authenticity as Captain Doby. The real talking point in the supporting cast, however, is Snoop Dogg as street informant Huggy Bear, a piece of inspired lateral thinking in the casting room that turned out to be one of the production's shrewder decisions.
Todd Phillips’ 2004 adaptation of Starsky & Hutch is not a surprise. You know exactly the sort of film you’re in for when you cast Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson as the leads. To be completely honest, I can't help but feel this could have actually been a decent, sharp reboot if they hadn't used those two. They bring a very specific, goofy brand of comedy to the table and refuse to take the film seriously for even a single second. It makes for some laughs, sure, but it ultimately dials the whole thing up to a relentless, winking campiness that stops it from being anything more than a broad caricature of the original 70s show.
That said, you can’t entirely fault the rest of the crew. The ensemble cast, featuring Snoop Dogg as a hilariously laid-back Huggy Bear, alongside Amy Smart and Juliette Lewis, all do their jobs perfectly well. They understand exactly what kind of movie they’re in and deliver the right amount of early-2000s comedic flair without overstepping. But when you strip away the retro fashion, the punchlines, and the sheer silliness, what you’re left with is pure, unadulterated "turn your brain off" cinema. It doesn't ask much of you, and in return, it gives you exactly what you'd expect from a mid-2000s studio comedy.
The one area where the film genuinely surprises you is the action. The car chase scenes are actually awesome, featuring a brilliant, practical sequence with the iconic Gran Torino that puts a lot of modern, CGI-heavy blockbusters to shame. But outside of those high-octane moments, it’s really just a standard 2000s action-comedy buddy cop film. It’s not trying to reinvent the wheel, and it certainly doesn't.
Starsky & Hutch is a perfectly serviceable, nostalgic slice of early-2000s popcorn cinema. It’s not the clever, actually decent spoof it could have been, but if you just want to switch off and watch two blokes bicker in a retro car, it does the job.
Taken as a whole, Starsky & Hutch sits comfortably alongside the wave of early-2000s studio comedies that knew exactly what they were and had no particular ambition to be anything else. If you enjoyed Phillips' earlier work, or if DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (2004) sits happily on your rewatch list, you will find broadly familiar pleasures here. The film has dated in the way that most very-of-their-moment comedies do, its cultural references and comedic rhythms carrying the faint whiff of a particular era rather than transcending it. And yet there is something almost relaxing about a film that makes no secret of its own limitations. Sometimes a red Gran Torino and a few decent laughs is genuinely enough. Whether it is enough for you will probably depend on how generously you feel disposed towards the cast on any given evening.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 2004 | Watched: 2026-06-12
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Starsky & Hutch (2004) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
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Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
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