BY LARRY CARROLL | Not funny enough to be a great comedy or exciting enough to qualify as an action film, Starsky & Hutch still has enough of both to be a mediocre, if forgettable, distraction. Whether you're familiar with the thirty-year-old series or just remember it as that cop show with the car, you'll have no problem picking up the simple "mismatched cops vs. seemingly reputable drug kingpin" plot. Director Todd Phillips (Old School) may have set out to update the classic David Soul-Paul Michael Glaser television show, but what he ended up with is a 21st-Century remake of Dragnet, the Tom Hanks-Dan Aykroyd two-star flick.

Like Dragnet, Starsky & Hutch wants to look back at a dated cop show with a comical wink. It juxtaposes a laid-back slacker cop and a by-the-book square as they try to take down a bad guy who masquerades as an upstanding citizen. Their angry police chief, friends with the baddie, constantly threatens to take their guns and badges away. The funniest scenes have little to do with the plot, the stars often seem confused about whether they're playing a scene straight or for laughs, and the finished product goes down as neither a career highlight nor an embarrassment for anyone involved. Fifteen years from now, this will be another Saturday afternoon TBS classic; whether Ben Stiller will have two Oscars on his shelf, however, remains to be seen.

Stiller is Starsky and Owen Wilson is Hutch, and it's the 1970's all over again. The perms are raging, the outfits look uncomfortable, and every exciting moment is played out in slow-motion. Reese Feldman (Vince Vaughn) is a thinly-veiled evildoer flooding the streets with a new kind of cocaine that is undetectable by police. While trying to keep Bay City clean, the two undercover cops stumble upon Feldman's plan. With the help of some fun-loving cheerleaders (Carmen Electra and Amy Smart), a pimp and part-time police informant called Huggy Bear (Snoop Dogg), and their trusty red-and-white Ford Gran Torino, the two set out to catch the bad guy in the act.

The funniest parts of Starsky & Hutch are the random jokes that circle the plot peripherally. When Stiller goes undercover, for instance, he emerges as a sideburned, leisure suit-wearing image of what Elliot Gould must be like on a bad day. When Huggy Bear needs to play caddie on a golf course, Snoop gives a knowing wink to the audience while discussing how well he knows his grass. Some of the jokes are too obvious (when the cocaine is thought to be artificial sweetener and Stiller takes the packet home, you don't have to be Kenny Kingston to know what's coming next), too many of the big laughs are already in the film's trailer, but the movie should still keep a smile on your face.

While it may not be the best omen for a comedy, the funniest scene by far is fueled by a cameo appearance. As Big Earl, a convicted felon with a penchant for dragons, current king of comedy Will Ferrell takes a one-joke character and leaves the audience rolling in the aisles. As he did in last year's miserable Boat Trip, Ferrell takes one day's worth of a film shoot and turns it into the single scene that will stick with you long after the movie has faded away. If Jack Valenti could only decree that every film needs to have a scene with Will Ferrell wearing a hairnet, the world would be a better place.

This is Stiller and Wilson's sixth film together, and they have certainly become comfortable enough in each other's hands to work like one of the old classic Hollywood teams. Martin may never have been able to have a sex scene with two girls at once, and Lewis may never have been crazy enough to attempt jumping a muscle car off a dock, but Wilson and Stiller's act is very much a logical update of that age-old comedic cornerstone of comedian and straight man. That said, are they funnier in this movie than, say, Zoolander? Not quite, but it's a trade-off for being able to take themselves a wee bit more seriously.

The biggest strengths of Starsky & Hutch are Phillips' ability to recapture that Seventies cheesiness and the first-rate supporting actors. Jason Bateman, having something of a career renaissance with the brilliant television show "Arrested Development", is a treasure as Vaughn's slimy sidekick with the pathetically weak moustache. Juliette Lewis seems to have a found a new knack for playing ditzy, slutty sidekicks, and does it very well here once again. Chris Penn is almost as entertaining as he is startlingly obese, and the legendary Fred Williamson brings some honor to the generic Screaming Police Chief role. Snoop and Carmen Electra are both triumphs of perfectly casting, and it's only Amy Smart who seems a bit lost in her period attire.

Looking for some fun this weekend? You could do worse than Starsky & Hutch. Or you could just dust-off that old VHS tape of Dragnet and save yourself ten bucks. As Ben Stiller's undercover alter ego might say, "Do it! Do it!"