Starsky & Hutch," a snarky, spot-on ode to the iconic 1970s buddy-cop TV series, is played strictly for laughs, a small mercy for which every movie fan should immediately thank his or her deity of choice. I still get stomach cramps thinking about the big screen version of "The Mod Squad," which tried so desperately to be cool, and was so leaden doing it.

Indeed, with few exceptions (“Mission: Impossible" and maybe "S.W.A.T."), tongue-in-cheek is the way to go with these TV Land reclamation projects, and "Starsky & Hutch" pokes it in there just so.

Starring the "Zoolander" comedy tag-team of Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in the roles originated by Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul, respectively, it's a zanily inspired kitsch treat and the funniest movie of year, which hasn't been all that funny, granted.

Directed by emerging comedy maestro Todd Phillips (“Road Trip," "Old School"), the movie synthesizes humor two ways: Both as a spoof of the original TV show and as a sturdy platform for Stiller and Wilson to revive past caricatures. Apropos of the former, Phillips and screenwriters John O'Brien and Scot Armstrong touch all the bases: Starky's perm, the fiery Ford Grand Torino with the reverse Nike swoosh, the blindingly ugly clothes...even that wa-wa guitar fade that led the show out of commercial breaks. Perilously thin rap artist Snoop Dogg is a deadpan delight as

Huggy Bear, the duo's ominiscent pimp-daddy snitch.

Make no mistake — this is not your grandfather's "Starsky & Hutch." Stiller, as rigidly by-the-books homicide detective Dave Starsky, is doing that Ben Stiller "thing," meaning he's intense, hot-tempered and suffering from a florid assortment of masculine confidence issues. In a clever variation on cop movie scripture, Starsky labors in the shadow of his dead mother, who peevish Capt. Doby (Fred Williamson) constantly reminds him was one of Bay City's most decorated detectives.

Much to his perm-headed chagrin, Starsky is paired up with Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson (Wilson), a happy-go-lucky babe-hound in the tried-and-true Owen Wilson mode. Even though Starsky takes the work more seriously, Hutch is the better, more instinctive cop, which only titilates Starsky's resentment of his new partner.

Investigating a "floater" fished out of Long Beach Harbor, Starsky and Hutch follow several leads to the palatial doorstep of one Reese Feldman (Vince Vaughn), a criminal entrepeneur who invented a formula to manufacture odorless cocaine, undetectable to narcotic-sniffing dogs. Per the usual, Vaughn (“Old School") plays his comic paradox to the hilt: Doting Jewish father by day, cold-blooded drug kingpin by night.

In the spirit of bad cop movies from time immemorial, Starsky and Hutch overstep their authority, are disgraced and suspended, then redeemed in a finale so absurd it makes "The Naked Gun" look like "Hill Street Blues."

Along the way, we practically pass a brick at some of the wacky nonsense invented by Phillips and his screenwriters: A Mexican stand-off over a wounded iguana, a cocaine-fueled disco dance-off (involving Stiller, natch) and Wilson's heartfelt acoustic performance of Soul's schmaltz pop hit "Don't Give Up On Us." And what would a "Starsky & Hutch" spoof be without a homoerotic subtext? Another "Old School" alum, Will Farrell, appears briefly to provide it.

At the risk of infuriating the cinema gods by comparing Stiller and Wilson to the classic comedy duos of yesteryear, let's just say they've already eclipsed Burt Reynolds and Dom Deluise and are moving into Jerry Lewis/Dean Martin territory. As long as there are buddy bonding stories involving a short, swarthy misfit and his taller, breezier partner (the "Hall and Oats Story," perhaps?) the sky is the limit.

‘Starsky & Hutch’
Starring: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn
Playing: Opens Friday at theaters
Valleywide
Rating: PG-13 (drug content, sexual situations, partial nudity, profanity, some violence)
Running time: 97 minutes
Grade: B+