Movie Tagline: The vacation you'll never forget -- no matter how hard you try
When you think of Jamaica, you think of Red Stripe (as far as beer goes, anyway). With their laid-back vibe and their "Hooray Beer" advertisements, the folks at Red Stripe have worked hard to indelibly link their product with thoughts of relaxing on a beach in the Caribbean. Unfortunately, the Red Stripe we drink here in the United States is not made in Jamaica. It is made in the not-so-tropical climates of La Crosse, Wisconsin and Latrobe, Pennsylvania. This isn't a bad thing (if anything, it means you get fresher beer), it just puts a slight dent in that whole island vibe Red Stripe tries to promote. It also dovetails nicely with the plot of Club Paradise, wherein a movie set on a (fictitious) Caribbean island stars such noted island dwellers as Robin Williams, Peter O'Toole, Rick Moranis, and Twiggy. Sure, it also has Jimmy Cliff, but his storyline takes a back seat to the antics of, among other things, two scrawny white guys trying (and failing) to get laid. But the point of this post is not to decry the unfairness of whitewashing in Hollywood movies. If it was, there are better, more current examples of this to choose from. Club Paradise is not the place to draw the line. The movie was such a flop that you would be hard-pressed to find many people today who even remember it. And I'm not here to tell you it's a hidden gem of 80s comedy. It's really not. It's a mess of a movie, with a dozen or so funny people failing to be funny in any discernible way. But I'll be damned if I don't find it oddly charming. Maybe it's just nostalgia, but no movie with Peter O'Toole and Robin Williams can be all bad, even if O'Toole was nominated for a Razzie because of his performance in this one. There's something about this feature-length failed SCTV skit that just does it for me. It's a similar reaction many people have to Red Stripe. They know deep down that there's nothing special about it; it's just another bland macro lager (owned by Heineken as of 2015). But drinking one takes them back to that time they vacationed in Jamaica, and all the good times they had, and all the interesting people they met, and by some strange alchemy the beer tastes better than it should. So, maybe a similar thing will happen when you pair Red Stripe with Club Paradise. Alone, they are both middling products, but together they may transcend their shortcomings and provide you with a much needed two-hour vacation. It's not Jamaica, but it's as close as some of us are ever going to get.
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