''I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell'' is a 2009

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

independent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

loosely based on the work and persona of writer

Tucker Max Tucker Max (born September 27, 1975) is an American author and public speaker. He chronicles his drinking and sexual encounters in the form of short stories on his website ''TuckerMax.com'', which has received millions of visitors since Max lau ...

, who co-wrote the screenplay. In an interview with ''Shave Magazine'' Max explained that the film is not "a direct recount or retelling. It says it is based on true events because it is. Basically, every scene in the movie happened in real life in one way or another but it happened in a different time or time frame. But pretty much every single thing happened." The film was directed by

Bob Gosse Bob Gosse (born January 9, 1963) is an American film producer, film director and actor. Background Gosse was born on Long Island, New York (state), New York. Gosse attended State University of New York at Purchase, SUNY Purchase where he woul ...

and stars

Matt Czuchry Matthew Charles Czuchry (; born May 20, 1977) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Logan Huntzberger on The WB television series ''Gilmore Girls'' (2005–2007) and Cary Agos on the CBS television drama ''The Good Wife'' (2009–2 ...

as Max. It was produced by Darko Entertainment and distributed by

Freestyle Releasing Freestyle Releasing, LLC is an independent film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2004, specializing in releasing films theatrically. Unlike most distributors, Freestyle Releasing does not put up any prints and advertising ...

. Max had said previously that sequels were possible if the initial film found financial success. The film was released in theaters on September 25, 2009. The DVD was released on January 26, 2010. While the book was a best-seller, the film adaptation of Max's exploits was a box office bomb that earned overwhelmingly negative reviews.

Plot summary

The film's plot is loosely adapted from "The Austin Road Trip Story" in Max's book ''

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell ''I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell'' is a book of autobiographical short stories about sex and drinking adventures written by Tucker Max. It was a ''New York Times'' #1 bestseller and made the Best Seller List each year from 2006 to 2011. It has ...

''. A tireless and charismatic novelty seeker, Tucker (

) tricks his buddy Dan (

Geoff Stults Geoffrey Manton Stults (born December 15, 1977) is an American actor. His first regular roles on television included '' 7th Heaven'', '' October Road'', and '' Happy Town''. He went on to star as Major Walter Sherman on '' The Finder'', Sgt. Pete ...

) into lying to his fiancée Kristy (

Keri Lynn Pratt Keri Lynn Pratt (born September 23, 1978) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Missy Belknap in ''Jack & Bobby'' and as Dee Vine in the film, ''Drive Me Crazy''; which was her debut role. Personal life Pr ...

), so they can go to a legendary strip club three and a half hours away to celebrate Dan's last days of bachelorhood in proper style. Tucker drags their misanthropic friend Drew (

Jesse Bradford Jesse Bradford (born May 28, 1979) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor at the age of five and received two Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film nominations for his performances in ''King of the ...

) along for the ride, and before they know it Tucker's pursuit of a hilarious carnal interest lands Dan in serious trouble with both the law and his future wife. The ensuing blowout leaves Tucker uninvited from the wedding and ankle-deep in a mess of his own creation. If he wants back into the wedding and the lives of his best friends, he'll have to find a way to balance the demands of friendship with his own

narcissism Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism exists on a co ...

and selfishness.

Principal cast

as Tucker Max *

as Drew *

as Dan *

as Kristy * Marika Dominczyk as Lara * Nicole Muirbrook as Christina *

Traci Lords Traci Lords (born Nora Louise Kuzma; May 7, 1968) is an American actress and singer. She entered the adult film industry using a fake birth certificate to conceal that she was two years under the legal age of eighteen. Lords starred in adult fi ...

as Connie *

Paul Wall Paul Michael Slayton (born March 11, 1981), better known by his stage name Paul Wall, is an American rapper and DJ. He has spent much of his career affiliated with Swishahouse Records, and has released several albums under the label and collabor ...

as Grillionaire *

Derek Wayne Johnson Derek Wayne Johnson (born February 23, 1983) is an American film director, screenwriter, editor and producer. Early life and education Born and raised in Carthage, Texas, Johnson began making short films at an early age, winning several award ...

as Friend #2 *

Melissa Fumero Melissa Fumero (née Gallo; born August 19, 1982) is an American actress. From the age of ten, she aspired to become an actor and later attended New York University, from which she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama. She made her ...

as Melissa

Denise Quiñones Denise Marie Quiñones August (born 9 September 1980) is a Puerto Rican actress, model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 2001. Prior to winning the Miss Universe pageant, she represented her hometown of Lares in the Miss Puerto R ...

was originally cast as Lara, but dropped out two days before filming started. Dominczyk, who had been the original first choice for the role but had passed due to a scheduling conflict, was now available and stepped in immediately The film includes cameo appearances from

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

fighters

Forrest Griffin Forrest Griffin (born July 1, 1979) is an American retired mixed martial artist and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2013 and currently serves as the Vice President of Athlete Development at the ...

and

Mac Danzig Mac Danzig (born January 2, 1980) is an American mixed martial artist, who competed as a lightweight in several MMA promotions, most notably the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was the winner of The Ultimate Fighter season six. Background Da ...

; rapper

; ''

Fark.com Fark is a community website created by Drew Curtis that allows members to comment on a daily batch of news articles and other items from various websites. The site receives many story submissions per day and approximately 100 of them are public ...

'' founder

Drew Curtis Drew Curtis (born February 7, 1973) is the founder and an administrator of Fark, an Internet news aggregator. He is also the author of '' It's Not News, It's FARK: How Mass Media Tries to Pass off Crap as News'' in May 2007. He is a guest on WOC ...

, author

Timothy Ferriss Timothy Ferriss (born July 20, 1977) is an American entrepreneur, investor, author, podcaster, and lifestyle guru. He became well-known through his ''4-Hour'' self-help book series—including ''The 4-Hour Work Week'', ''The 4-Hour Body'', and '' ...

, and the real-life Tucker Max (playing Dan's older brother Jeff). Producer/writer Nils Parker also has a small cameo, playing an announcer in the strip club.

Reception

The film received generally negative reviews. , 20% of the 35 reviews compiled on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

are positive, with an average rating of 3.19/10. The review consensus from Rotten Tomatoes was: "''I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell'' fails in its attempts at raunchy humor, and Tucker Max comes across so unlikable and outrageous that the film's inevitable story arc feels forced." Numerous critics considered the movie to be one of the worst of the year.

Box office

Opening weekend gross was $366,900 on 120 screens. Its total domestic gross was $1.4 million. Max blamed the movie's box office failure on the marketing of the movie. In 2016, Max described the movie as "a big failure, probably my biggest and most personal ever", and blamed himself:

Controversy

In 2009, during the pre-release promotional period for the movie, several publications accused Max of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

and of promoting

rape culture Rape culture is a setting, studied by several sociological theories, in which rape is pervasive and normalized due to societal attitudes about gender and sexuality. Behaviors commonly associated with rape culture include victim blaming, slut-s ...

by allegedly glamorizing the practice of engaging in sex acts with women who are intoxicated. In addition, protests were staged at screenings of the movie by demonstrators who argued that intoxication precludes a woman from consenting to sex, and thus Max's stories and movie include descriptions of acts that "meet the legal definition of rape in North Carolina." In 2012, writing in his book '' Trust Me, I'm Lying'', Max's marketer

Ryan Holiday Ryan Holiday (born June 16, 1987) is an American author, modern Stoic, public-relations strategist, owner of the Painted Porch Bookshop and host of the podcast ''The Daily Stoic.'' Prior to becoming an author, he served as the former director of ...

claimed that the controversy was a publicity stunt fabricated and spread by Holiday to create interest in the film.

References

External links

* * * {{Bob Gosse 2009 films 2009 comedy films Films based on short fiction Films directed by Bob Gosse Films scored by James L. Venable American comedy films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films