Strange Brew
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Canada
Movie Reviews of Strange Brew
Movie Review: Where's the Sequel, You Knobs!
Summary: 5 Stars
Before there was "Wayne's World," there was Bob and Doug McKenzie. Originally a series of skits on SCTV, Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas played Bob and Doug, two loser brothers living in the "Great White North" of Canada. With a fierce dedication to drinking beer, wearing toques, and spouting such quintessential Canadianisms as "eh?" and "hoser," Bob and Doug finally got a chance to make their own movie in 1983. The result is the hilarious "Strange Brew," a film with a Shakespearean subtext about two guys who get caught up in a series of misadventures during a quest for a free case of beer. "Strange Brew" also stars Max Von Sydow as the evil Brewmeister Smith, Paul Dooley as Claude Elsinore, and several other people you probably aren't familiar with. The funniest thing about this film is its sheer stupidity. Yes, this movie is exceedingly dumb, but it has the rare ability to grow on you every time you watch it. I recently watched the DVD version without having seen the movie for years and it was still funnier than the last time I saw it. This classic belongs on every movie lover's shelf.The film fades in with a belching MGM lion. As the camera sweeps behind the beast, we see Doug and Bob tormenting the beast. They notice the camera and run to their set in order to begin discussing their new film, a set consisting of a map of Canada and about ninety cases of beer. In a clever opening bit, a "movie within a movie" kicks off the McKenzie brothers' adventure. You see, the two gave away their Dad's beer money and now must find a way to acquire a case of beer or risk the wrath of their inebriated father. After failing to procure a free case of Elsinore brew by claiming that they found a mouse in a bottle, the two knobs drive to Elsinore brewery to argue their case. The McKenzie brothers land right in the middle of a dangerous intrigue. Claude Elsinore, who now runs the company after his brother died, seeks to keep his niece Pamela out of the family business. Unknown to Pamela, Claude is a mere puppet of the evil Brewmeister Smith, a creepy looking guy who has some evil plans for an eventual world conquest. The bumbling antics of Bob and Doug leads them to jobs at the factory where they discover weird goings on: a video game that glows mysteriously, a hockey game where mental patients from the neighboring asylum beat each other up to the sounds of strange music, and a former hockey player who looks like death warmed over.
"Strange Brew" is one increasingly hilarious and bizarre scene after another. By the time you get to the conclusion of the film, you cannot believe you are laughing at this stuff. The best parts of the movie are probably some of the lines the characters toss out from time to time (some of these are paraphrases):
"It's a jelly."
"If I didn't have puke breath, I'd kiss you."
"Two orders of split plea soup to go, please."
"Oh, is that Bonaparte? No, I think its Napoleon."
"It must be one of those English New Wave bands."
I could go on and on with similar dialogue that is laugh out loud funny. If you don't pay close attention, you'll likely miss some great lines. Of course, with all of the sight gags and ridiculous situations going on, it is sometimes difficult to pay attention to the dialogue. It's all funny in the end.
The DVD includes several extras, including an animated short starring Bob and Doug, cast filmographies, part of an original SCTV skit about how to get a mouse in a beer bottle, and a "Strange Brew" theatrical trailer. What it doesn't have is a commentary, an egregious omission of epic proportions. I would love to hear what Moranis and Thomas have to say about this movie twenty years later. I hope this DVD sells so many copies that Bob and Doug have no option but to produce a sequel, properly scored by the rock group Rush, for the new millennium. It wouldn't get any better than that.
Movie Review: Hamlet with Beer. Thank Goodness for Canadian Content Laws, Eh?
Summary: 5 Stars
Good day, eh? and welcome to my review. "Strange Brew" is best described as a Canadian version of Hamlet with beer and a happy ending. (The Brewery is even named "Elsinore" for crying out loud.) Lynne Griffin plays Pam Elsinore, the Hamlet character, who is helped by the indefatigable Doug and Bob Mackenzie (Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis) against the evil Dr. B. M. Smith played by Max von Sydow (I don't know how they got Max von Sydow other than he cashed the check and it cleared) and his bumbling minion, Pam's uncle Claude Elsinore, well played by Paul Dooley ("Breaking Away, the voice of 'Sarge' in "Cars"). Brewmeister Smith is planning to use beer he has chemically altered to control peoples' minds in order to take over the world and it is up to Pam, her love interest, former hockey star Jean LaRose (Angus MacInnes), and Doug and Bob to stop him. In the end, the Mackenzies manage to save the day and even find a way to safely dispose of the altered beer.
Even after all these years, the MacKenzies are still hilarious. The Mackenzie characters, portraying all the negative Canadian stereotypes (beer drinking, toque wearing, back bacon eating), were created by native Canadians Moranis and Thomas to protest Canadian content laws on Canadian Television and the two play their characters to the hilt. "Strange Brew" has so many wacky and madcap scenes and Thomas and Moranis are over the top as Doug and Bob, it is hard to choose a favorite scene. Given that, I would have to say my favorite line is when Bob and Pam are trapped in a rapidly filling beer tank, "My brother and I used to say that drowning in beer was like Heaven, eh? Now he's not here and I've got two soakers . . . this isn't Heaven, this sucks!"
So now, like, all you hosers need to get this movie, eh? Otherwise you knobs can take off, eh?!
Movie Review: It's a cult classic, eh?
Summary: 5 Stars
Hearkening back to 1983, "Strange Brew" is the cinematic debut of Bob and Doug Mckenzie( respectively Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas)- two Canadian brothers who were catapulted into the American mainstream when their skits became ever so popular on the show "SCTV". It also didn't hurt that their songs "Take off (to the Great white north)" (with supporting vocals by RUSH lead man Geddie lee) and "The Twelve Days of Christmas" rapidly became cult classics.This is a stupid film, yes, but it falls into the category of "so stupid that its funny". Years before Wayne and Garth, these two hosers were making us laugh, and the film still has the same comedic resonance today. It may not be high art, but if you're sitting down to watch a film called "Strange Brew", high art probably isn't what you're after to begin with. This film works on all of its sophomoric levels, and it is one of the few comedies of this type that honestly earns it's cult status. With its twisted account of Bob and Doug's efforts to score a case of free Elsinore beer (and all of the havoc that attempt wreaks), "Strange Brew" provides more honest belly laughs than just about any other film before or since. It's simple, it's goofy, and it is 100% undeniably fun!!! One can only hope that the inclusion of these characters' personalities in the recent film 'Brother Bear" will spark a revival that results in a long overdue sequel!!! Beauty, eh!!!!!
Movie Review: Beauty movie, eh?
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this movie in the theatre when I was a teenager, and I don't think I had ever laughed so hard in my life...the first fifteen minutes of this movie alone is absolutely unsurpassed in comedic cinema history.>
Having said that, I realize that watching a movie when you're 15 and then watching the same movie when you're 35 can be two totally different experiences (this was REALLY driven home when I saw "Purple Rain" awhile back for the first time since high school...man, what was I THINKING?!). All the same, this movie is still funny as hell, and it still compares favorably with similar movies made these days; if you liked "Dude, Where's My Car?", you'll probably think this movie's a lot better (think of it as "Dude, Where's My Beer?").
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The DVD presentation isn't as bare bones as I had initially feared (even though a Rick Moranis/Dave Thomas commentary track in character a la The Hanson Brothers on the most recent DVD re-issue of "Slap Shot" would've been a nice touch); the SCTV skit reminds you of why these guys caught on so well and achieved their cult following, and the animated bit is okay (if "Clerks" could go animated, why not the McKenzie Brothers?).
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This is definitely a comedy "must-have", and I recommend basing a "Canadian Culture Night" party around this movie, with "Slap Shot" following it as a deserving chaser.
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Cheers, eh?!
Movie Review: An emerging cult classic, eh
Summary: 5 Stars
Canadians always seem funnier than us uptight Americans because they can laugh at themselves and their idiosyncracies without offending any interest group other than uptight Canadians. They have Mike Meyers and the timeless Kids in the Hall for comedy; we have Carrot Top and "Family Guy." That being said, this film is utterly sophomoric. Almost twenty years later, it still keeps me laughing out loud at its absurd plot, silly jokes and barrage of references and inside jokes about Canadian culture. I went into this film already knowing a bit of Canada (I am a big hockey fan) and came out of this thinking that most NHL players like beer, back bacon & donuts as much as Bob & Doug McKenzie. And I loved every minute of it.Hats off to the disc's producers for making the audio and video quality superior to the faded-out versions I've seen on cable TV and VHS. They also did an admirable job of including lots of extras on the disc. I've never seen SCTV, but a classic McKenzie Bros. sketch from the legendary show is included on this disc, as well as the film's trailer and a new animated short that includes Canada's favorite siblings since the Dionne quintuplets.
Perhaps this film rivals Caddyshack in having the greatest number of one-liners repeated over beers by white thirtysomethings. That alone should make it a cult classic of Canada you knobs!