The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter is a 2018 comedy about a renowned hunter who sets out for an epic weekend adventure to reconnect with his young son.
Hunting movies have almost always been about the struggle between man and nature, often with someone or a group of someones getting tangled up with a particular nasty that turns the tables in the far reaches of the back country. A comedy about entering the woods as such seems like a pretty sure bet, and while Jody Hill‘s latest outdoor film The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter certainly has a few solid and well-earned chuckles, it’s a mostly bland experience that runs out of ammo all too fast.
The star of a popular video series called ‘Buck Fever’, Buck Ferguson (Josh Brolin) takes his followers well into the woods to learn about and take part in the practice of deer hunting, his trusty cameraman Don (Danny McBride) ever by his side. As steady and successful as he is in the forest, he’s entirely less so everywhere else, with his ex-wife (Carrie Coon) about to tie the knot with her new beau (Scoot McNairy), a guy who let’s just say is the polar opposite of Buck. In the middle of all this is Jaden (Montana Jordan), Buck’s preteen son, whom he thinks is his last hope for holding it all together. He decides to film a father and son episode where the boy will learn the art and kill his first whitetail deer. You can bet it doesn’t quite go as planned.
Absolutely the best thing going for The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter – and by no surprise – is Brolin, who is having one of those years, seen in three of the biggest action films already, here showing off some sharp comedic skills. He packs on a few more pounds, looking puffy and ragged, pulling of the archetype with high quality fashion. McBride has always been best in support and shows some restraint – for good or bad – in letting most of the story nestle on the father and son, and it’s here where the film sort of gets embedded in its tracks, whiffing its chance to really take some fun parodic shots at the sport.
The script has a few shining shots, with little Jaden stuffing his parka with all kinds of obvious young-person foul-mouthed observations on taking even a single step out of his modern comfort zone. He’s a funny little guy, but the story really ought to have let Brolin run with Buck, who is tempered too often by inevitable sentimentality and life lessons, sacrificing potential black comedy for heart tugs.
Hill, who has a solid history in dark humor, with razor-sharp titles like Observe and Report and the Eastbound & Down series, pulls back on the reigns here and while the setup and characters seem primed for some genuine fun, the story works harder to be one of redemption than that of satire. There’s nothing wrong with that, but the balance here doesn’t work and the whole thing just feels wanting, even with a volley of good moments. Worth a look? Hey, it’s on Netflix. Queue it up and see if it grabs.