The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew

Strange Brew rules. Those who have not seen the film must see it immediately or remain ignorant like the rest of the human filth. Strange Brew is yet again one of those movies that I have been watching since I was a kid and it has not lost any of it's charm. Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis have come up with two great characters in the McKenzie Brothers. Not too bright and surviving on donuts and beer, the film follows the McKenzies as they get a job at a brewery to get free beer and in the process stop a world takeover by power mad Brewmeister Smith. This flick doesn't really have much in the way of plot or acting or effects or anything that usually makes a movie great. It doesn't need all that though because just having Bob and Doug onscreen is worth the price of admission or in this case the DVD. Just watching Bob and Doug attempt to function is funny enough. I heard that Moranis and Thomas were working on a sequel and were just getting ready to film when the financing fell through. That really sucks and I hope that they can bring Bob and Doug back to the screen before they get too old to play them. Bottom Line: This movie is a must have. It's great, deal with it, buy it and then look at Canada (The Great White North) in a different light.

Being a former Canadian national, people ask me, "Have you seen this movie?" The answer is, "You bet!" Fact is, I've got this movie almost memorized.

There have been so many "dumb-guy" movies out there, from "Night At The Roxbury" to "Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back", but none live up to the true campiness of "Strange Brew". It features stupid people, but the movie doesn't become stupid. It set the mold for those movies. Plus, it satirizes filmmaking itself. Very few movies are able to do that without going into the "anything for a laugh" style of the Mel Brooks films or "National Lampoon's 'Loaded Weapon 1'". With satirical films, it's either feast or famine. "Strange Brew" finds a nice balance. Can you imagine? Shakespearian drama in a dumb-guy movie? A bold maneuver that obviously paid off.

Max von Sydow must have either needed employment, or wanted to do a comedy. Paul Dooley gets to break out of his typecasting of playing intelligent, father-figure roles by playing a complete dunderhead for once. Once again, bold ploys that paid off. I wish I could have seen Lynne Griffin headline other movies. She's good. I know she guested in other venues, but I can't seem to find them on video.

Interestingly enough, I happened to see "Strange Brew" action figures in a semi-recent trip to the toy store(August 2001). The twenty-year anniversary won't occur for two more years, and yet, here they are. They're NOT action figures. Bob and Doug are frozen in the seated position, and the only things you can bend on them are their elbows. Instead of the Kung Fu grip, it's more like the Elsinore grip. I'm surprised you can separate them from their couch.

All in all, this is one of those movies where you can sit back and be entertained without having to turn your brain off.

"How's it goin', eh". Those of us blessed to live within the TV reception area of the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) had been privy to Bob & Doug on SCTV long before this movie was released. The running gag on SCTV was that Bob & Doug wandered into the studio one day, the star of a live talkshow was absent and the station manager threw the brothers on stage to fill the dead air. They were a hit and soon were given their own show-within-a-show called "The Great White North". In short order they demanded star treatment as they understood it and soon the stage was surrounded by cases of beer, boxes of donuts and the guys had a campstove to cook Canadian bacon on. Classic. Each show they would have their 'topic of the day' and discuss important issues like 'snow routes', bottled beer verus canned and other things Canadian. You just can't help but love these innocent buffoons. This was the basis of Strangebrew. As silly comedies go, this one is a benchmark. No swearing, hilariously cheesy effects and bathroom humor that is actually funny and not disgusting (see American Pie if you want disgusting). What amazes me is that EVERY single scene with Bob & Doug is funny. Some scenes are truly classic. The dialogue and nuance of this film is so easy to imitate you'll find yourself doing it with friends who have also shared this gem of a film and laughing yourself silly. ("Did you see the way she was looking at me...") See this film, you'll thank me, eh.

The last time I saw "Strange Brew" was when it appeared on one of the Canadian Pay TV channels...and I hated it. It was chaotic, confusing, silly, and dumb. I mean, using music and drugged beer to force mental patients to fight while playing hockey? Some skinny woman's father coming back as a ghost and using a videogame to speak to people? A flying dog? I dismissed it.

But now, with the fullness of time and maturity, I've watched it again and I can say with confidence that it's STILL chaotic, confusing, silly, and dumb...but it's also hilarious!

This movie captures the sort of ad hoc, "yeah, whatever" style of SCTV, which could get dull over time, but the hosers have managed to draw it out for 90 minutes by putting in a lot of rich detail (what confused me as a child were the references to Hamlet, mainly), endlessly quotable dialogue, and scenes that are just plain funny (I particularly like the nurses arguing about whose responsibility it is to remove dead patients from their beds). I usually find "dumb" humour annoying, but Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis are so GOOD -- almost subtle -- at being dumb, and so lovable at the same time, that even the fart/booze/puke jokes became funny.

And what's more, the movie is WEIRD. If anybody can explain why Hosehead the dog ROLLS up the edge of the roof, please let me know, because it's giving me nightmares. And am I the only one who's noticed pointed musical references to Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein" (when they first see Elsinore Brewery, and when Rosie and Pam are reunited again, the score sounds almost EXACTLY like similar moments in "Young Frankenstein"...but not QUITE exactly...)

I recommend this movie to anybody who can handle some dumb with their wit, in just the right amounts. The DVD features a preview for their upcoming cartoon which looks spectacularly unfunny, so please don't judge them on that.

I saw this on TV first, when I was 12.. Loved it to dead.. These guys were the only reason i watched SCTV.. Got the Dvd of it as well.. Now about the Stereotypes, yeah we drink beer, but it isn't stereotypical.. Doesn't the States (tho weaker and tasteless), and we do not all say eh, or aboot.. Adjust... Anyhoo, I regress.. This movie was one of the best comedies out in the earlier 80's. Pure Canadiana...