UHF Chad'z rating: *** (out of 4 = good) 1989, PG-13, 97 minutes [1 hour, 37 minutes] [comedy] starring: "Weird Al" Yankovic (George Newman), Kevin McCarthy (R.J. Fletcher), Michael Richards (Stanley Spadowski), David Bowe (Bob), written by Al Yankovic, Jay Levey, produced by Gene Kirkwood, John Hyde, directed by Jay Levey.
In the spirit of "The Naked Gun" and other such satirical movies, "UHF" is another funny movie full of back-to-back parodies and sheer wackiness. The only problem is sometimes you wonder why you laughed.
The film starts off with the typical buddy system. George (Yankovic) and Bob (Bowe) are two slackers who can't get their act together and keep floating from job to job. When George's uncle wins the deed to Channel 62, a UHF television station, he lets George manage it because he has nothing else to do.
Since this a film about stupidity for the masses, Channel 62 becomes an overnight success due to George's wacky ideas, especially when he gives Stanley Spadowski (Richards), the station's janitor, his own TV show. Richards is quite funny as Spadowski, a janitor who loves his mop with a passion. When he is given his own television show the stations' ratings soar and suddenly Channel 62 becomes the biggest station in town because of its sheer wackiness. George brings in his friends to create their own shows like "Wheel Of Fish," "Strip Solitaire," and "Fun With Dirt."
Yankovic and Levey certainly have a knack for satire and zaniness, as they do the correct thing by making everything in the film just as bizarre as everything else. If anything, the film is just a live action cartoon in all aspects, but a funny cartoon at that. Not only are the shows wacky, but so are the commercials such as "Spatula City," and "Plots R Us." There's a good sense of detail here, where as every little joke and gag have meaning and are funny within their context.
The actual "plot" involves the efforts of R.J. Fletcher (McCarthy), the general manager of a network affiliate, and his plans to sabotage Channel 62. But because the film is so lighthearted, even Fletcher and his associates are funny because of their whole "bad guy" persona is so overboard.
When George's uncle suddenly finds himself in debt he agrees to sell Channel 62 to Fletcher if George cannot come up with the money by a certain deadline. The story from here starts to become a comedic adventure, with cliff hangers and the like, but you can tell how it's going to turn out.
Although "UHF" is funny, it's far from a perfect film. Sometimes it becomes more ridiculous than necessary, but at least it doesn't take itself too seriously.
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