“Get Duked!” Movie Review – Don’t Eat the Rabbit Poo!

Get Duked! Is a humorous, trippy, survivalist comedy ‘horror’, but…with little to no horror.

However, it can be a fun watch! Though, the humor in the movie may not be as funny to all, as it is also a coming-of-age story for four adolescent teenagers. It is chalk full of teenage jokes regarding drugs and plenty of crotch references. If you just turn off your brain and allow yourself to enjoy the crude humor, it can be quite a ride.

Get Duked! Is the debut of one Ninian Doff. I imagine it won’t be the last time we hear from him, either. His first go at it, with Get Duked!, has had a lot of positive feedback. And, although the four main actors may not be well known, most of them have quite the growing portfolio. It shows in Get Duked! as the acting is on spot for a movie like this. There’s also a really good supporting cast as most of them are highly recognizable from esteemed movies, and are great fits in their roles.

Duncan, Dean, and DJ Beatroot are three trouble-making teenage Scots who are being given a chance at self-improvement and to turn their ways around. Having set off cherry bombs in a school restroom, filming a rap video of the school restroom as it burns down, being unruly and failing classes, they are sent to the Highlands as a form of correcting their bad behaviors.

Their punishment is to attend and complete an outdoor adventure trek, from which they would receive "The Duke of Edinburgh Award". A most prestigious…certificate. Seemingly out of the blue, they are joined by a fourth boy, Ian. He is the complete opposite of the three hooligans (I love that word), who is on the trip by choice and with high aspirations of achieving the Duke’s award. Ian is a good student and strives to be the best at everything he does. Which is why, at first, he does not fit well with the three troublesome friends.

Without cell phones or a guide, out in the middle of beautiful Scotland countryside, the quartet is tasked with reaching a specific campground site using “teamwork”, “foraging”, and “orienteering”. They set out on their journey with only a map and what they brought in their backpacks, highly reluctant and underprepared (aside from Ian, that is).

Get Duked! pokes fun by stating, “Nothing ever happens in the Highlands”, where the movie takes place. We quickly find that is not true as there are missing signs of people posted all over the trailhead message board eary in the movie. And, as the four boys get lost (lost largely in part because part of the map is ripped off to be used as a joint) they discover they are being hunted. Hunted by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and thus the title of the movie, Get Duked!

Get Duked! has a lot of comedy movie clichés. Sometimes it is overdone and annoying, while at times, I found myself laughing heartily during several scenes.

The often-used message of the generational gap between elderly and youth is the highlight of the movie. Distaste from the elderly believing the current youth is going to be the downfall of society. This is portrayed through the Duke and Duchess, as they hunt down the four teens to remove “the problem” from the world. On the flip side, the teenagers claim to be misunderstood, as is typical for this type of satire.

Economic class differences are also a talking point as the Duke and Duchess seek to rid the world of the vermin that are not worthy. They are the high-class aristocrats hunting and removing people of the lower class status.

I’ve seen Get Duked! deemed a stoner comedy, as well. This makes sense as the boys seem only to be on a mission to get high using anything that they can get their hands on, from exploding hashish to the local rabbit crap. Said rabbit droppings are apparently hallucinogenic and a mystical part of the Highlands region. A visually, and audibly, wild mushroom-like trip is the direct result of eating the excrement. Falling within that category of a stoner comedy, the humor is ridiculous and crude at times, but like I said…I laughed through several of the passages.

Then there are the local area police. They are illustrated as idiotic and buffoons. Which could be the result of the region’s lack of need for a police force being in the "nothing-ever-happens" Highlands. This is a place where the highest priority case is that of a bread thief. Sergeant Morag and PC Hamish bumble their way through the country side following the evidence that is left behind by the teenagers as they try to survive the Duke's attacks. As the situation escalates the two police officers come up with more outlandish presumptions as to what is actually going on in the Highlands.

Other than the survivalist-type suspense, and the very brief moments of surprising but abbreviated gore, Get Duked! is more of an action coming-of-age teen comedy. The scenery is spectacular and the acting is good for the specific role-types involved, as good as it can get with a stoner comedy.

If you’re interested in something simple that can take your mind off serious topics, and want a mindless laugh, Get Duked! could be the movie with which to take a short journey.

I gave Get Duked! 2.5 Bloody Reels out of 5.0.

Get Duked!

Released: 8/28/2020

Rating: R

Genre: Comedy, Horror, Action

Director: Ninian Doff (First full-length movie)

Writer: Ninian Doff (First full-length movie)

Stars:

Eddie Izzard (Mystery Men, Across the Universe)

Kate Dickie (The Witch, Prometheus)

James Cosmo (Braveheart, Highlander, Chronicles of Narnia)

Jonathan Aris (Dracula 2020 Netflix series, Sherlock 2010 TV Series)