Beerfest, the latest Broken Lizard movie, comes as a pleasant surprise. Their other films have been too long: from the cult classic Super Troopers to 2004's Club Dread, had the guys cut out about twenty or thirty minutes of meandering gags and subplots that go nowhere, they could've presented seriously funny films instead of the so-so comedies these pictures turned out to be. Although Beerfest still runs a bit too long for a goofball comedy, it's more consistently funny than Broken Lizard's previous projects.  

While in Munich to spread their recently deceased grandfather's ashes, brothers Jan and Todd Wolfhouse (Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske) stumble upon a secret contest that puts Oktoberfest to shame: Beerfest, an ages-old competition where teams from around the world engage in extreme drinking games. Americans have never been allowed to enter, but after having their family's honor sullied by evil Beerfest overlord and distant relative Wolfgang von Wolfhaus (Jurgen Prochnow), Jan and Todd are going to change that.

Once they return to America, the brothers put together a five-man team of the best beer-guzzlers and bar game champions in town: themselves, the hefty Landfill (Kevin Heffernan), the nerdy Fink (Steve Lemme), and drinking game legend Barry (Jay Chandrasekhar). Together, they embark on an intense, year-long training session for the next Beerfest, hell-bent on taking down their German rivals and determined to do their best at the beer games.

Beerfest is a comedy in the Dodgeball vein, a rowdy ribbing of sports genre cliches that never gets too mean but isn't afraid to be a little risque. Broken Lizard serves up a flick with all the usual frat boy ingredients: gratuitous nudity, profanity galore, and, of course, gallons upon gallons of beer. But instead of just rehashing these elements and giving moviegoers the same goofy comedy they've seen a million times before, Beerfest doesn't take itself so seriously and gathers enough of a carefree spirit to make the experience of watching the movie fun instead of being a chore. To put it as simply as possible, Beerfest is darn funny -- and, what makes this even better, I didn't see it coming. 

Sure, some of the jokes get a little repetitive, and at almost two hours long, Beerfest really stretches out a premise that's already a bit on the thin side. But, as I mentioned before, the boys of Broken Lizard have better luck packing in humorous material to fill the running time than in their past flicks. Be it spoofing sports cliches, delivering over-the-top interpretations of Germans (warning: if you're from Germany, this movie makes fun of you a lot), or just sitting back and letting the team's drunken antics run amuck in front of the camera (Barry's beer goggles scene is a keeper), this film has enough energy to keep kicking up something funny when the time calls for it.

Comedies are a tricky type of film to pull off, since filmmakers have no idea whether viewers will laugh or stare stone-faced at the screen and contemplate asking for their five bucks back. Quite a few movies of this genre have fizzled out fast, but Beerfest is a welcome surprise that's good 'til the last drop. 

MY RATING: *** (out of ****)

(Released by Warner Bros. Pictures and rated "R" for pervasive crude and sexual content, language, nudity and substance abuse.)