Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
Three friends, whose lives have been drifting apart, reunite for the funeral of a fourth childhood friend. When looking through their childhood belongings, they discover a trunk which contained details on a quest their friend was attempting. It revealed that he was hot on the trail of the $200,000 that went missing with airplane hijacker D.B. Cooper in 1971. They decide to continue his journey, but do not understand the dangers they will soon encounter.
Without a Paddle is a fairly generic mid-2000s buddy comedy that hits familiar beats without distinguishing itself in any meaningful way. The D.B. Cooper treasure hunt premise has some charm but is executed in a formulaic fashion. The three leads (Seth Green, Matthew Lillard, Dax Shepard) share decent chemistry but deliver unremarkable performances. Cinematography is functional wilderness shooting with nothing memorable. The film recycles well-worn road-trip and buddy-comedy tropes without adding anything distinctive. The ending wraps up predictably and sentimentally. A solidly mediocre film across all dimensions that comfortably earned its middling reputation.