I took in the movie Wild Hogs the other night. I know it’s been slammed by the critics and I’ve talked to both sides, people who thought it was a boring, predictable film and people who thought it was one of the funniest movies they’ve ever seem.

I liked it.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not an instant classic like Forest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption or Saving Private Ryan. But it was an entertaining tale with a nice story. The thing I like about it is that while the film stretched the truth in places, it basically stayed true to life. And, there were some parts in the movie that reminded me of riding experiences.

For example:

The Wild Hogs were riding down a stretch of road and ran into a swarm of bugs and got bug juice all over their helmets and jackets. That actually happened while I was riding in Texas. Somewhere south of Texarkana, we hit a swarm of huge, Texas-sized bugs. By the time we stopped, I had bug parts all over my windshield, my jacket, my chaps and my helmet.

Another scene showed the Hogs walking into a bar. When they entered, the music stopped and everybody turned to look at them. I remember walking into a swanky restaurant wearing leather from head to toe and covered in 12 hours worth of road dust. Everybody turned to look and we retreated to more casual establishment down the block.

But the most true to life scenes were when they were just sitting around a bar, drinking a beer and cracking on each other. That happens a lot on bike trips.

So again, this wasn’t a grand epic motion picture and my guess is that Wild Hogs will be snubbed when it comes to Oscar time. But it is an entertaining flick and a nice diversion for a couple of hours.

I give it two thumbs up.