After making $38 million in the opening weekend, it’s safe to say that audiences went hog wild for &#8220Wild Hogs.”

Consider me the minority.

This horrible attempt at comedy was a sad, pathetic attempt at humor – with a slew of talented names wasted in a premise that should never have gotten the green light.

John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy play a group of suburban friends who get together for a weekly ride around town on their motorcycles.

After his wife leaves him, Woody (Travolta) decides that the guys should go on a cross-country trip.

The four set out on a trek from Ohio to the Pacific Ocean, finding adventure along the open road.

Writer Brad Copeland, the creator of TV series &#8220My Name is Earl” and &#8220Arrested Development,” is a talented person, but his script is so tepid it’s hard to believe he had anything to do with this project.

The plot is flimsy (not to mention predictable), with director Walt Becker padding the film with a number of musical montages (including the ever-popular peeing on the side of the road sequence).

The only perversely entertaining factor going for &#8220Hogs” is its incredible misuse of a loaded cast.

Allen can be funny, even if he hasn’t had a good movie in what seems like 20 years, and Lawrence is capable of better, but seems to be in the cast just so the film can find a broader appeal (which apparently worked, so who am I to judge).

Travolta is such a talent that it is sad to see him wallow in a film that almost makes &#8220Look Who’s Talking Now” look better by comparison. And while I’m glad to see Macy try comedy, he fails miserably – despite trying hard. His character is supposed to be a bumbling computer geek, but it feels more like he is playing a person who is mentally challenged.

The film also manages to waste the talents of Ray Liotta, as the head of a New Mexico gang that the boys encounter during the trip, Marisa Tomei (who is still smoking hot even when she is given nothing to do) and John C. McGinley – who plays a gay cop who becomes smitten with the four friends.

About the only thing &#8220Hogs” manages to get right is a cameo that is clearly a nod to &#8220Easy Rider.” During that one scene, &#8220Wild Hogs” comedic engine runs smoothly. It’s too bad that the rest of the way it sputters like a moped in need of a fill-up.

DVD dandy of the week

This week’s dandy is &#8220Borat” (A-) a comedy that is something &#8220Wild Hogs” isn’t – funny.

The premise for &#8220Borat” (full, formal title: &#8220Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”) is simple: A Kazakhstani TV reporter named Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) is sent to America to report on what makes the United States such a great country.

While in New York, Borat encounters an old episode of &#8220Baywatch” and immediately becomes obsessed with Pamela Anderson, setting out on a cross-country quest to find the actress and make her his wife.

And while the plot is simply filler for the real fun, the key is this: Borat is not a real person – but everyone else in the movie is. It’s like an amplified version of &#8220Candid Camera,” with Borat interacting with unsuspecting people throughout America.

Cohen has created a character who is anti-Semitic, sexist and homophobic, and who uses his narrow-minded views to show the warts in all of us – Borat interacts with many Americans who may actually be more narrow-minded than he is. Some of the highlights include a Southern dinner party that goes extremely awry, and a visit to a rodeo where Borat exposes the rather blood-thirsty views of the majority in attendance.

&#8220Borat” isn’t for everyone. It wallows gleefully in its very un-PC humor, but that is part of what makes it work so well. Cohen and director Larry Charles make the unthinkable funny – and in the process might just get you to think about racism, bigotry and sexism.

The DVD includes several scenes that weren’t shown in theaters – I’d recommend watching the scene at the animal shelter, which is so funny I’m surprised it didn’t make the final cut.

&#8220Borat” is rated R for strong crude sexual content including graphic nudity and language and is now available on DVD.