Hollywood continues this summer’s obsession with retro remakes, this time pulling out and dusting off “The Dukes of Hazzard,” starring Johnny Knoxville and Sean William Scott as cousins Luke and Bo Duke, Jessica Simpson as Daisy Duke, Burt Reynolds as Boss Hogg, and Willie Nelson as Uncle Jesse.

Director Jay Chandrasekhar specializes in over-the-top comedies, the most notable of which are last year’s “Club Dread,” and 2001’s “Super Troopers.” However, while this film is certainly over the top, it’s not that funny. Chandrasekhar basically takes something that could have fit into the traditional half-hour sitcom format and stretches it out to just over and hour and a half (though it seems way longer), filling the time with such elements as crotch injuries, cleavage shots, and more and more long car chases. The film is pretty sloppy with continuity gaffes I wasn’t even trying to catch, never mind the “southern” accents that seem to come from all over.

The characters, while obviously called up from the original TV show, are actually imports: Knoxville is basically his “Jackass” self, Sean William Scott is every testosterone-drive goof he’s played since “American Pie.” Jessica Simpson’s main function was to parade around in next to nothing as every man bent to her will.

Much of the good natured hillbilly camaraderie that the original series was popular for degenerates into pretty lousy innuendoes stereotyping rural southerners as promiscuous, incestuous, bestial inbreds. Willie Nelson has to bear the burden of the comedy as standup comedian Uncle Jesse, tossing out such redneck gems as “What do you call a farmer with a sheep under each arm? A playboy.”

The only thing the film did fairly well were the car chases, and there were many, though not all of them made sense. There were so many, in fact, that I was worn out by them even before the “big” scene, which was a combination rally/police car chase. All in all, Chandrasekhar succeeded in taking some famous names, a beloved 1970s TV series, and a good amount of money and turning them into an entirely forgettable film.

COURTESY PHOTO