KIDS IN THE HALL: BRAIN CANDY
A film review by John Robertson
Copyright 1996 John Robertson
Directed by:
Starring: The Kids in the Hall (David Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, Scott Thompson)
Perfect Person Rating*: The Perfect Person for this film is a devotee of The Kids in the Hall, or someone in the mood for their comedy served up with doses of satire, sarcasm, and occasionally poor taste. The Perfect Person would probably give this film a rating around 7 out of 10.
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Ever since the Kids in the Hall went off national TV here in Canada, devotees of the group have been waiting for the Kids in the Hall movie to come out. Since they stopped making new shows for the CBC in Canada, the Kids have actually gotten bigger, through reruns on cable in the US. All this has led to terrific anticipation from fans north and south of the border. With the release of Brain Candy, that anticipation has been lessened, but not without some surprises.
The Kids in the Hall's television show was sketch comedy, where the five members played various roles, some recurring, some in drag. In recent years, where Saturday Night Live has been terrible, The Kids stood out like a bright light. Always on the edge, sometimes over it, it was always trying new things, and though it sometimes missed a mark tastewise, it was never unfunny because it was just plain lame.
The same can be said of The Kids' new movie, Brain Candy. Although I don't know if I could say in all honesty that it was always funny, I can say that it was never unfunny because it was lame. If anything, the movie was too subdued and satirical and even too artistic for what I had expected from the Kids.
Plot summary: The company who make and market Stummies (tm) is on the rocks, and they need a new product to put them back on top. Combing their R&D division, they discover that a bright young scientist has developed a drug that completely cures depression. They pressure him into giving it the thumbs up, and then market it as Gleemonex, the drug that makes you feel like it's 72 degrees in your head all the time.
Of course the drug has side effects, like putting its users into blissful comas some of the time, but that's not important to a multinational corporation only interested in greed is it?
As mentioned before, one of the things that caught me off guard about this movie was the fact that at times it was so serious. The Kids obviously made this film to have a serious message, and they deliver it through satire. One of the things that I liked about the Kids in the Hall television show was that they were so over the top, and they have gone over the top in this movie as well, but not in a comedic sense. To push home their message, they went a little too far over the top in satirizing drugs like Prozac, and didn't spend enough time being farcical.
As usual, the actors play a multitude of roles, and all of them are well done. There aren't as many characters from the original series as the audience seemed to want, but the ones that were there were a welcome sight.
Bottom line: If you're in the mood for a clever satire of the drug industry, or you're a self-professed die-hard Kids in the Hall fan, don't miss it. If you're just looking for a good comedy, find a Kids in the Hall rerun on TV, you'll probably be far more pleased.
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Copyright 1996 by John Robertson. Retransmit freely if unedited. My opinions are solely my own, and in no way reflect those of my employer.
* Perfect Person Rating: The Perfect Person Rating is an attempt to give the reader a new way of understanding my rating. Rather than give a film a score, either overall, or on several attributes, the Perfect Person Rating tries to identify the type of person would enjoy this movie the most. Since a reviewer is by nature someone with a great deal of experience in what they are reviewing, their experience may not be the same as someone who is less informed, less jaded, or more attuned to the subject. Hopefully the Perfect Person Rating will go further toward eliminating reviewer bias than a simple rating scale. Comments are appreciated.
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