Witless Protection (2008)

3% of critics liked it
(29 reviews)
50% of users liked it
(11,029 ratings)

When a small-town sheriff (Larry the Cable Guy) witnesses what he believes to be an attempted kidnapping, his effort to save the beautiful damsel in distress sets him down a wild path of comic mishap. Eric Roberts, Yaphet Kotto, Peter Stormare, and Joe Mantegna co-star in a comedy from Red Water and… More When a small-town sheriff (Larry the Cable Guy) witnesses what he believes to be an attempted kidnapping, his effort to save the beautiful damsel in distress sets him down a wild path of comic mishap. Eric Roberts, Yaphet Kotto, Peter Stormare, and Joe Mantegna co-star in a comedy from Red Water and Christmas Rush director Charles Robert Carner. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 37 min.
Directed By: Charles Robert Carner
Written By: Charles Robert Carner
Genres: Comedy

In Theaters: Feb 22, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Jun 10, 2008
Studio: Lions Gate Films

Critic Reviews

Ty Burr, Boston Globe
The otherwise genial Witless Protection scrapes bottom whenever a black person or an Asian or an Arab is wheeled on for just-kiddin' laughs.
Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Times
In Witless Protection, Larry the Cable Guy plays a small-town deputy, fantasizing about becoming an F.B.I. agent. Sitcom wackiness ensues.
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
Makes his previous effort, Delta Farce, seem a classic by comparison.
John Anderson, Variety
One can only hope that Witless Protection is targeted at a vanishing species of American Neanderthal. In the meantime, perhaps Larry and his accomplices at Lionsgate could take some sensitivity traning.
Betsy Sherman, Boston Phoenix
It's sad to watch Yaphet Kotto, as the shady fed, clothesline the stereotypical Muslim motel owner who's already been threatened by Larry with a trip to Gitmo.
Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile
Witless, lowbrow fun is the signature of this so-so comedy with Larry the Cable Guy in fine fat form as a country bumpkin deputy sheriff with delusions of grander than smalltown cop
Austin Kennedy, Sin Magazine
The movie doesn't even have the common decency to be under 90 minutes. What a bore.
Larry Ratliff, San Antonio Express-News
I've got an idea for Larry the Cable Guy's next dumb movie. Maybe the lowbrow bumbler with the big heart and even bigger beer gut could play, oh I don't know, a cable guy?
Betty Jo Tucker, ReelTalk Movie Reviews
During the last part of this wacky comedy, it loses the amusing push-pull intimacy between its 'odd-couple' protagonists.
Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review
From this kind of witlessness, the only protection is not to see it.
Stephen Garrett, Time Out New York
Gratuitous support-our-troops iconography and post-9/11 paranoia permeate a harebrained plot.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Merely an excuse for the viewer to delight in the hilarity generated by Mr. Cable Guy breaking wind, vomiting, producing various gastric noises, etc.
Ethan Alter, Film Journal International
Ranting about Witless Protection's political incorrectness -- not to mention its general stupidity -- would be a waste of breath. Even so, the movie is breathtakingly offensive at times.
Steven Hyden, AV Club
Larry The Cable Guy is a cancerous boil on the ass of comedy, but it's still sort of shocking how little effort he puts into his movies.
Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine
It's the audience that deserves Protection from this Witless Larry the Cable Guy vehicle.
Tod Goldberg, E! Online
You have what might very well be the worst movie of 2008. And 2009. And probably 2010, too. Did we fail to mention the exploding farts?
Linda Cook, Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)
Maybe there are only two kinds of people in this world. Those who think Larry the Cable Guy is funny, and those who do not. I am in the latter camp.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
The nastiest and silliest of Larry the Cable Guide big-screen vehicles, Witless Protection, the formulaic road flick, is Witless Comedy par excellence.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Stacy A

This is the first time I've ever agreed with the entire panel of critics on Flixster. Witless is right. I gave this movie the beneifit of the doubt because I love slapstick and Larry is pretty amusing on the "Blue Collar Comedy Tour". Larry did not transition well… More
This is the first time I've ever agreed with the entire panel of critics on Flixster. Witless is right. I gave this movie the beneifit of the doubt because I love slapstick and Larry is pretty amusing on the "Blue Collar Comedy Tour". Larry did not transition well onto the big screen. When I think of redneck, slapstick, sweet and funny with the underdog as the hero, my mind immediately goes to Jim Varney's 'Ernest P. Worrell', whose shoes Larry or other rednecks or redneck wannabes, will never be able to fill. I can't be the only one who sees Larry's attempts to mirror the lovable hayseed, Ernest. There is the hat, the accent, the clothes, the stand-up comedy then moving over into movies. This movie has too much crude humor and disgusting bathroom jokes and there is no excuse for the racist comments, especially in a movie such as this. The(dare I say it?) plot was weaker than the pulse of a comatose patient.*(And I am not making light of people who have suffered or are suffering through this. I'm just making a reference to how terrible this movie was). "Witless Protection" has deterred me from watching any of the other Larry movies. I think it's best for him to stick to stand-up comedy, which does work better for him. I'm from the South and I think that Larry does give us a bad name. You can do comedy without making fun of other races, sexual orientation or using over the top sexual comments and bathroom humor(One fart joke will do, sometimes). Is this what has become of America? Have we really sunk so low that every ridiculous script/movie is greelighted just because of a t.v. personalities' previous work? A good stand-up comedian doesn't necessarily translate to a good movie actor. Some people have it. Some don't. Larry doesn't.
Steven V

This is one of those slight-of-hand smart comedies, which explains why its target audience hated it so much. A lot of the stuff involves dumb gags, silly stereotypes, and the acting is not going to win any awards for comedy or otherwise. But it is all wound up into an enjoyable story… More
This is one of those slight-of-hand smart comedies, which explains why its target audience hated it so much. A lot of the stuff involves dumb gags, silly stereotypes, and the acting is not going to win any awards for comedy or otherwise. But it is all wound up into an enjoyable story and directed well enough that even <i>Eric Roberts</i> is able to handle his role. It also has enough complexity and subtlety to keep it interesting.
Yinalí R

Very funny!
William G

Yep.
Nicky M

Yeah it's bad but it knows it. Low-brow comedy for a mindless movie experience.