FORMAT: BLU-RAY
Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy was a flop at the time of release (I have fond memories of braving a blizzard to see it at the movies and being the only one in the theater) although fans and even the creators seem to hate it. (The sketch about the movie finally making its money back on the first episode of the new reboot was pretty funny though.) I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for it. Sure, translating a sketch comedy show to a feature length movie is a tricky thing. I’ll admit the plot doesn’t exactly lend itself to their brand of humor either (although it does give them an excuse to dust off some of their characters who are mostly relegated to cameos). I remember thinking when I first saw it that a comedy about the pharmaceutical industry was a weird angle to hang a sketch comedy movie around. Nowadays, it seems like every time you turn on TV you see commercials for various drugs, so I have to wonder if it was actually just ahead of its time. Either way, there is some wickedly funny stuff here, which is all that really matters.
Chris (Kevin McDonald) is a scientist who creates a wonder drug to cure depression. Naturally, it needs a bunch more tests but when the CEO of the pharmaceutical company (Mark McKinney) threatens his job, he pushes it through to market. At first, it seems to be a miracle cure, but side effects eventually kick in and it’s up to Chris to make things right.
Although I miss some of the more famous sketch characters, the cast is great as usual. Some of the highlights are Dave Foley’s “Just a Guy”, Bruce McCullough as Cancer Boy, and Scott Thompson gets a great gay musical number. I know a lot of fans look down their nose at it, but for this fan, it gave me plenty of big laughs. If you can just turn off your brain, there’s plenty of candy to be had.
No comments:
Post a Comment