I didn't think 'The Brady Bunch' television series was so stupid it was funny, I just thought it was stupid. I gather I am not on the same wavelength as its many fans. I'm still not clear on what they're fans OF. So I went in to see 'The Brady Bunch Movie' thinking, this will be a couple of hours of my life I'll never get back. And then I proceeded to laugh my fool ass off. The spoofery here is perfect and dead on target; it seems almost too easy of a kill. The makers of the film must have felt like kids in a candy store. What do you lampoon mercilessly first? Marcia's airheadedly blonde conceit? Jan's borderline-psycho jealousy of Marcia? Mike Brady's emptyheaded homilies? Carol Brady's hairdo? Don't get impatient, the film gets to all of them in due course, and many others. 'The Brady Bunch Movie' basically takes the Brady family on its own terms but thrusts them into the 1990's where they are even more out of place than before. The principal running joke is that they don't consider themselves odd at all, in fact the Bradys feel they are the hippest, best-looking, and smartest family God ever created. They are oblivious to an outside world that variously treats them with bewilderment, astonishment, and sometimes outright contempt. Doesn't faze them in the slightest. The early seventies, when the original series prospered, were a strange time anyway. In a way, the sixties hadn't really ended. Disco and Saturday Night Live were yet to come. 'The Brady Bunch' was the latest of a type of show that had been a staple of network television since its inception, the family situation comedy. 'Father Knows Best,' 'The Donna Reed Show,' and of course 'Leave It To Beaver' were the prototypes. One might think 'The Brady Bunch' would have been the last of its breed, but the format's enduring appeal lived on in such shows as 'Eight Is Enough' and 'Full House.' 'The Brady Bunch' is definitely an artifact of its time though, more noticeably so than the other examples given, given the 60's background and affectations in dress, hairstyles, and dialogue. So bringing this determinedly odd and stupid family into the 90's was a stroke of genius, and what resulted was a sharp parody that made a lot of money and was followed by a sequel. Some of the best bits include continual run-ins with their neighbor, Mr. Dittmeyer, and his boozy, lustful wife, who clearly wishes to engage in a threesome with Greg and Peter. The Brady's astroturf lawn is still there, and another neighbor comments in amazement, "One time I was over there. One bathroom for nine people? And I never did see a toilet." Then there's Greg Brady's line to several female classmates, "Hey there, groovy chicks. You're all hep in far out ways." And Marcia's comforting words to Jan, who is worried about moving because she'll have to make new friends. "Jan, you don't have any friends." 'The Brady Bunch Movie' is a funny flick bound to send you away muttering, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!"
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