Subject: REVIEW: KIDS IN THE HALL: BRAIN CANDY (1996)

From: [email-masked] (John Robertson)
Date: 7 May 1996 17:13:38 GMT

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.

----

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.

----

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.