8 Movies From 2016 That Deserve A Second Chance
2. Yoga Hosers
Yoga Hosers was so badly received upon its release that Kevin Smith dedicated an entire podcast to its reviews. In order to ease the pain, co-host Ralph Garman read them aloud in celebrity voices.
Your typical story of two teenage convenience store clerks (Lil-Rose Depp and Harley Quinn Smith) who end up fighting Nazi bratwurst monsters (long story), Yoga Hosers was described as “lazy, unfunny and self-indulgent” by the Village Voice, but even though Smith introduced the movie at Sundance, critics still seemed to miss the point.
The film has no ambition other than to be a throwback to wilfully stupid 80s cinema, and most of the gags are aiming no higher than your average Police Academy sequel. The plot is basically Puppetmaster by way of Porky’s, though there are nods to other, better films including Gremlins and The Shining.
With its brief running time and agreeably silly narrative, Yoga Hosers nicely captures that 80s spirit and Smith has the good sense to never let the pacing flag. The movie really belongs on a shelf in between VHS copies of Mannequin and Critters, and your enjoyment of it will depend upon your taste for deliberately dumb cinema.