Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg) believes that he can be a stuntman just like his deceased father whom he never met. So when his step father Frank (Ian McShane) falls ill Rod believes that he can earn his respect by fundraising the money needed for his operation by clearing fifteen buses in the stunt of a lifetime.

By the synopsis alone Hot Rod almost sounds like it is a serious drama about a man desperately seeking the love and respect of the father he never had and the surrogate who stepped in to raise him. It is however one of the greatest mad cap comedies of the noughties brought to us in part by the creative genius of The Lonely Island (Samberg, Akiva Schaffer who directs and Jorma Taccone who co-stars) and a plethora of great comedians and a smattering of serious actors.

Written by Pam Brady whose other works include South Park (both film and television) and Team America: World Police it has the kind of anarchic and inventive ideas you would expect from those films. Rod and his father regularly beat the living crap out of each other in fights reminiscent of Clouseau and Cato and a particularly inspired scene sees Rod have a “punch dance” in a wooded glen as though he was in an 1980’s dance montage crossed with a scene from The Naked Gun.

Samberg is on sparkling form as someone in a permanent state of arrested development. The way he behaves in order to be cool is just spectacularly funny and the sheer lunacy of his commitment to delivering motorcycle stunts on a pedal start moped is genius. He is also surrounded by some names who now are huge but at the time would have been significantly less so. Bill Hader and Danny McBride are his friends and crew who help organise his stunts and I am not sure I have the superlatives for their unique characters. Isla Fisher plays his would be girlfriend who is as seemingly as innocent as Rod. Whilst Sissy Spacek and Ian McShane, two normally straight laced actors make perfect foils for the ridiculousness on display.

This is 88 minutes of absolute comedy gold and a must watch for anyone who likes their comedy even the slightest bit silly.