Comedy can be a painful art form when it just isn't funny. Of course, when a film keeps us laughing we are willing to overlook all sorts of shortcomings such as plot holes, paper-thin characters, or even the occasional failed attempt at humor. Strange Wilderness is not among the latter. Although there are some gags that work, and a number of great character actors are involved, the highlights do not piece together to form a cohesive whole.

Directed by Fred Wolf, and written by Peter Gaulke and Wolf, Strange Wilderness tells the story of two guys by the same names who are trying to save their failing wilderness television show. Peter Gaulke is played by Steve Zahn. Peter's father was a class-act wilderness show host who passed away and left his show to his incompetent son. Alan Covert plays Peter's sidekick and cameraman. As the film unspools, Peter tells the audience in flashback all about how he lost his father's show and has fallen into depression. Most of the way through the film we catch up to the flashback and get to see a happy day in the end for our imbecilic protagonist and his crew.

There are several gags in the film that do work: Justin Long's tattooed eyelids, the crew's discovery of Bigfoot, and the revenge-eating of a school of piranhas. And, of course, the gag that seems the most remarkable to have pulled off is this: the presence of Ernest Borgnine! It was humorous just to see this classic genre actor running around with our incompetent film crew heroes.

The problem with Strange Wilderness, like with many low-brow comedies, is the ratio of laughs to failures. Far more often than not Strange Wilderness falls flat on its face. There are whole set-pieces that do nothing to advance the plot, and therefore must exist solely for laughs. But these same set-pieces fail utterly and make the viewing of this film occasionally excruciating.

There are several spiritual concepts and worldviews to be found in Strange Wilderness. The filmmakers try to suggest a bit of American Dream Theology in the storyline. As our heroes have all hit rock bottom, none other than Ernest Borgnine offers up the wisdom that saves the day, remarking that all we really need is one good idea, and that will keep us afloat. Zahn's character takes his inspiration from this belief and manages to save the day for his wilderness show. The film also explores, albeit in a surface-skimming way, living up to the legacies of our parents, the real meanings of success and failure, and loyalty among friends.

Strange Wilderness offers little in the way of laughs or depth, but if low-brow comedy is your niche, then you could do a lot worse. Zahn and crew succeed in capitalizing on their idea and focusing on their friendships; they just don't necessarily succeed in keeping us laughing in the process.