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The Movie Screen, we have learned, is a microscope upon which we view the best of the larger world of television. You refute this claim? Damn you to Hell. TV has given us the best in movie entertainment, from Mission: Impossible to The Fugitive to Car 54, Where Are You? And now it has spawned another, A Very Brady Sequel. You've seen The Brady Bunch. You know The Brady Bunch. Everyone and their mother has sat through twenty-six straight hours of The Brady Bunch. Except me. I have never seen an episode all the way through. But you know what? I liked the movie anyway. I didn't even see the first Brady Bunch movie until it hit video, but this one I saw in the theater. And I laughed my ass off. No really, my ass came off, and I had to bend down and reattach it with some gum I found under the seat. Weird. The great thing about this whole Brady Movie Franchise is you just know it all started with a couple of execs getting really, really high. "OK, take the damn Brady's but stick 'em in the 90's. No, I mean it! Really! Hey, quit hogging the bong!" From such humble beginnings are created masterpieces. And while this might not be a masterpiece, it is damn funny, stoned or otherwise. OK, so this time, those wacky Brady's get visited by a guy who claims to be Carol Brady's first husband, the supposedly dead archeologist. But he really just wants an old horse statue worth 20 million bucks and rotting away in their living room. Got it? OK, it's not much, but listen to the sub-plots. Jan goes psycho with an imaginary boyfriend. I mean really psycho. Peter (the middle one, if I got the names right) is starting work at dad's architect firm, and he wants to be an adventurer. The two little ones play with an old detective kit and snoop about the house looking for little Cindy's doll. The elder Bradys spend the entire movie making the most wonderful sexual innuendo you ever did hear. "I know where he can find MY fingerprints." And of course, Greg and Marsha fall in love. Man that's funny. Basically, I started laughing in the opening credits and didn't really stop until it was over. Sure some of the Jan stuff is painful humor, I mean they really make her deranged, but I took it like a man and glowed in her effort. About the effort. The cast is the same as last time, and they're terrific. They parody the Bradys like no other could. Every inflection, every nuance. Every snicker and mood. Perfection. Because that's what makes this different from another TV movie spin-off. This one is a parody of the show. Come on, that show was a sick and twisted joy, created on a sound stage and never holding any believability anywhere else. So instead of glorifying it, the makers of the movie have parodied it. And it is as glorious a tribute as you could ever hope for. Were there bits I didn't get because I hadn't watched the show? Yep. But not that many, and rest of the humor was right there for me to soak up with the proverbial sponge that is my kidney. And soak I did. Make no mistake, this is a dumb movie. You will laugh, but you will probably not use your brain. Some of the gags are in the open, and you see them coming. But it's still darned funny. They also decide to tie just about every 60's TV show together into one world that they can. And at least one 90's show that I can think of, a bit with Richard Belzer on Homicide which is sheer brilliance. So go see this movie. It is funny, it is silly, it is very mocking of our nation's 70's disease. It's retro to the max. (I heard that on MTV, you like?) I'm giving A Very Brady Sequel 4 Babylons. The best comedy I've seen since... well since the last good comedy I saw earlier this summer. I forget.
Editor's Note: Special kudos go to Tim Matheson who got to say the immortal line, "I'm tripping with the Bradys." That's cool. You can retire now.
Note from the Chef: You need to eat more, you're getting too thin.
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