In a day and age where Hollywood filmmakers gear virtually every film to adolescent males 13-18 years of age, it is refreshing when a film comes along to break from that focus. “Wild Hogs,” the new release from Touchstone Pictures, is a film that is blatantly aimed at middle-age audiences and it succeeds at every turn of the highway.

This is the story of four 40-something friends who are experiencing difficulties in their attempts at domesticity. First there is Doug Madsen, a family dentist with a beautiful wife and an adolescent son who finds him totally boring. While a wild man in college, he now sees eating red meat as a ride on the wild side.

Next is Bobby Davis, another family man who has lost touch with those he loves. His teen-age daughter laughs at him when he tries to question her behavior and his younger daughter just ignores him. His live-in mother-in-law complains abut how real men should conduct their homes. Worse yet is his wife, who orders his every move, including making him go back to work for the septic service he quit a year previously to pursue a writing career.

Then there is Dudley Frank, a single computer programmer who is the ultimate nerd. He is vastly intelligent, spouting off random trivia that, while impressive, means virtually nothing to those around him. He has obviously spent too much time in front of cathode-ray monitors and not enough real humans. He is deathly afraid of women to the point of not being able to put together a functional sentence when in their proximity.

Lastly, there is Woody Stevens, a businessman who might be involved in questionable deals and is married to a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. The opening finds him having lost everything, money, his house and possessions and the coveted trophy wife. Woody wants to feel like he’s in control of his life and suggests to his other three friends to take one last trip on their road bikes to the ocean before they are too old to appreciate the trip. After some trepidation, they all agree and off they go on their road trip. What they can’t foresee is that the road is going to trip them up, at almost every turn.

They encounter gay motorcycle cops, frightened families, outlaw bikers and a town in serious need of redemption. What the audience encounters is non-stop laughter.

Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, William H. Macy and John Travolta – while seemingly an odd ensemble – work wonderfully with each other. Their idiosyncrasies that on the surface separate them are actually what help them bond as a group. This is the strongest vehicle several of them have worked on in years.

The supporting cast is extremely strong. Ray Liotta and M.C. Gainey as members of the Del Fuego bike gang. Jill Hennesy and Tichina Arnold play the wives of Doug and Bobby respectively, and Marisa Tomei is the owner of an ill-located diner.

John C. McGinely is laugh-out-loud hilarious as the gay motorcycle cop. Peter Fonda is part of the cast as an obvious nod to the most significant biker film of all time, “Easy Rider.”

Many critics have been pretty harsh on this film, but they have missed the whole point. This is a film for middle-aged folks with middle-age humor.

Touchstone should take it as a compliment when teenagers sit dumfounded while their parents laugh hysterically. And that’s what most older audience members are going to do – spend about two hours laughing out loud.

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John Malgesini is a teacher at Umatilla High School.