This is a good movie. Plan and simple. Not because 'Weird Al' Yankovic plays George Newman, the lead role. It would have been just as great with anybody in the lead role. However, despite what others may think, Yankovic's acting is surprisingly convincing. He gets his point across.
I'm not going to give you a plot outline or anything like that. There's plenty of reviews out there where you can find that out. Instead, I'm going to tell you what I think should have been said in those reviews, but wasn't.
The movie was cast perfectly, with the exception of Victoria Jackson as Yankovic's girlfriend, but more on that later. Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld) gives (in my opinion) his best performance ever in this movie as the lovable dim-witted janitor, Stenley Spadowski. Kevin McCarthy (and his thugs) perfectly play the role of the villians, so much to a point where you have to laugh. David Bowe (who I've never seen in anything else) is Yankovic's friend Bob, and is quite cool. He can catch grape after grape in his mouth from across the room. You have to respect that. And he can act, too. Fran Dresher is the secretary/newscaster, who I've never been a big fan of in the first place, actually isn't too bad in this movie. Other great parts are the bum, the midget cameraman, George's uncle, the karate teacher (Stupid!!! You so stuuuupid!!!!!) and a lot more. The only bad thing about the cast (and the entire movie, I think), which I mentioned earlier, is Victoria Jackson. She could never act. She was pretty unconvincing. Oh well.
This movie is full of little gems that you just have to laugh at. For instance, the bum and a blind guy are sitting on a bench, and the blind guy has a Rubik's cube. He turns one side, hold it to the bum and asks, "Is this it?" The bum responds, "Nope." He then turns it again, and the whole process repeats. Little fun things like this are scattered everywhere in this movie.
Not to imply that this movie doesn't have a plot. It does, and a good one at that....I've never seen a plot like it. It's intricate and doesn't slow down or have any holes in it.
Also scattered throughout the movie are little spoofs of television shows and commercials that air on U-62, the TV station where it all goes down in this movie. These, in my humble opinion, are the funniest things in the movie. Shows like "Conan the Librarian" and "Town Talk," a talk show with a neo-nazi, a klansman, a little girl, and an axe-welding maniac all in one sitting. And many more other funnies like this, but I don't want to spoil the surprises.
I highly recommend this movie. You'll love it. You'll love the characters, you'll love the story, you'll love the humor.
---Reviewed by Matt Kristek. Send all hate mail and death threats to
mkristek@javanet.com
http://www.javanet.com/~rkristek/index.htm
"Keep watching the skis!"
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