Wild Hogs is a 2007 comedy film directed by Walt Becker and released by Disney's Touchstone Pictures division. The screenplay was written by Brad Copeland.
The film is about a group of four men from Cincinnati, Ohio, who pose as a biker gang called the "Wild Hogs". Doug Madsen (Tim Allen) is a dentist who has trouble relating to his son Billy (Dominic Janes), Woody Stephens (John Travolta) is a rich lawyer married to a supermodel, Bobby Davis (Martin Lawrence) is a plumber who was forced to return to work after having taken a year off to unsuccessfully write a book, and Dudley Frank (William H. Macy) is a single, clumsy computer programmer who gets distracted by women but is unable to talk to them. When Woody learns that his wife is divorcing him and that his lawyer practice is shutting down, he decides to plan a cross country road trip with his friends to California. Their trip is filled with shenanigans and they eventually run afoul of a rival gang, the Del Fuegos.
The film also stars Marisa Tomei as Maggie, Jill Hennessy as Kelly Madsen, Ray Liotta as Jack Blade, Tichina Arnold as Karen Davis, Stephen Tobolowsky as Sheriff Charley, and Peter Fonda as Damien Blade.
Wild Hogs contains examples of:
- All Bikers are Hells Angels: Subverted and played straight, where the titular group are all middle-aged urbanites who're riding to get away from their boring lives. They get into trouble with the Del Fuegos, who consider themselves "actual bikers" and are a stand-in for the Hells Angels.
- All Deserts Have Cacti: Averted. The desert that the four main characters get stranded in didn't have any, much to Bobby's frustration, as he's experiencing dehydration.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Bobby, Doug, and Dudley ask Woody about what he did to the Del Fuegos while in Madrid, which leads to Woody telling them that he cut their bikes' fuel lines and ended up destroying their bar.
- Badass Biker: Arguably all four of the main characters are this by the end of the movie.
- Becoming the Mask: By the opening of the film, Bobby, Doug, Dudley and Woody pose as the Wild Hogs. They eventually become real bikers by the end of the film.
- Book Ends: The film opens with Dudley getting distracted before crashing into a real estate sign. By the end of the film, his friends end up doing the same thing, only this time, they crash into a surfboard and Dudley literally gets the last laugh.
- Butt-Monkey: Dudley is never safe from the world's abuse. Examples include crashing his bike into a sign or pole, damaging his computer, accidentally throwing a tire wrench out of Maggie's diner to the amusement of the Del Fuegos, etc.
- The Cavalry: Damien Blade arrives to stop the Del Fuegos from fighting the Wild Hogs at the end of the film.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: John Travolta's character is deep in denial about the disastrous collapse of his business and marriage, and goes on to be the main catalyst for the pursuit by the Del Fuegos which forms much of the film.
- Comically Missing the Point: A character complaining about his beer calls it "warm piss", and his buddy chimes in saying they need cold piss.
- Determinator: No matter how many times the Del Fuegos knock them down, the Wild Hogs refuse to back down.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Dudley gets distracted whenever he sees a beautiful girl.
- Extreme Doormat:
- The law enforcement in Madrid pretty much let the Del Fuegos wipe their feet on them.
- Bobby lets himself be pushed around by Karen... at first.
- Fanservice Extra: several uncredited girls in thong bikinis almost lead Dudley to crash at the end.
- Flipping the Bird: Once Woody retrieves Dudley's motorcycle, he flips off the Del Fuegos while riding past them.
- Henpecked Husband: Bobby gets pushed around by his wife Karen, at least at first.
- Horrible Camping Trip: Exaggerated when they manage to burn their tent and get harassed by a gay cop as a result.
- How We Got Here: The opening depicts the Wild Hogs riding their bikes and how they got there in each segment (Doug, Bobby, Dudley and then Woody).
- I Know Mortal Kombat: The sheriff mentions that he was certified in law enforcement by a online course. The course's weapons training informed the applicant to "play Doom".
- The Klutz: Dudley can be clumsy, especially when he crashes his bike or accidentally damages a computer.
- Loser Protagonist:
- Bobby is plumber at The Firm and his wife Karen calls the shots. Hector points out to Bobby that his job is a bad one, given that the former was robbed a day earlier.
- Dudley is dorky, socially awkward, and very passive, until the end.
- As for Woody, he is bankrupt and his wife has divorced him.
- Averted with Doug. He has a nice home, a good job and a beautiful wife. His life is comfortable, only a little boring.
- Meaningful Name: "Del Fuegos" is Spanish for the phrase "The Fires".
- Misplaced-Names Poster
- Mistaken for Gay: Every time the bike cop appears. It doesn't help that whenever he spots or overhears our heroes, they tend to be discussing such matters as "being ridden so hard by Woody" or taking naked baths together, as seen here
. - My God, What Have I Done?: Woody regrets his actions after realizing that he caused the destruction of the Del Fuegos' bar.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Woody ends up destroying the Del Fuegos' bar while retrieving Dudley's bike, which leads to the biker gang chasing after the Wild Hogs.
- No Indoor Voice: Jack speaks in a loud and exuberant voice, especially when he gets excited.
- Official Couple: Dudley eventually gets together with Maggie when he and his friends end up in Madrid, New Mexico.
- Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: The Wild Hogs vs. the Del Fuegos.
- Pretender Diss: First, by the villainous biker gang Del Fuegos towards the Wild Hogs, because they're a bunch of middle-aged guys who just do this for fun instead of terrorizing people. Then, by the villains' hero to the villains, because four middle-aged guys who bike for the sake of biking are standing up to a whole horde of guys in their prime.
- Product Placement: Dudley gets a Mac Apple logo tattooed onto his arm. He is very proud of the tattoo's invulnerability to copyright.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Jack makes some surprisingly accurate predictions about the Wild Hogs when he berates them for being a bunch of suburban posers instead of real bikers.
- Jack's father, Damian Blade, later gives one to him after the Wild Hogs fight his gang, telling off his son about the bar he built was an insurance scam and for allowing his gang to stand off by the men he called posers.
- Riches to Rags: Woody loses his fortune, and his lawyer practice gets shut down when his wife divorces him at the beginning of the film.
- Road Trip Plot: The plot of the film involves Woody, Dudley, Bobby and Doug going on a field trip from Cincinnati to California.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After revealing the real reason why the Wild Hogs left Cincinnati, Woody decides to leave the group, but it doesn't last long.
- Shout-Out: There are a lots of these, but especially to Easy Rider - throwing away the cell phone at the start, the whole "bathing in the hot springs" scene, Peter Fonda's cameo near the end. Dudley's tanker helmet could be one of these to Jack Nicholson's football helmet. Some of the riding scenes near the end. Also John Travolta's character trying to teach Dudley to dance.
- "How does that feel Woody?"
- Stuff Blowing Up: A whole biker bar gets destroyed thanks to Woody.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After being the Butt-Monkey for most of the film, Dudley literally gets the last laugh when he falls in love with Maggie and at the end when he watches his friends get hit by a surfboard.
- Token Minority: Bobby is the only African-American in the Wild Hogs.
- Took a Level in Badass: All four of them.
- Virtual Assistant Blunder: Dudley's Establishing Character Moment has him using a voice-activated laptop to show off his tech-savviness to a lovely woman. Unfortunately, when he says "Alternative specs" the laptop searches for "alternative sex." Cue a flood of VERY loud popups for fetish sites.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Bobby, Dudley and Doug call out Woody for his actions in stealing their bikes and why they are going on the trip to California.
