The Brady Bunch Movie

I was surprised by how funny I found this one. Gary Cole, Shelley Long, Christine Taylor, and Michael McKean are all treats, and the rest of the main cast are formidable as well. The way television portrays American family values across generations is a gold mine for satire, and what's great about The Brady Bunch movie is that it doesn't feel mean spirited. It simultaneously pays homage to and spoofs the original sitcom. Jan's pathological envy of her older sister is particularly funny, as are Gary Cole's speeches about family unity that seem to go in circles forever. This is a perfect example of what a spoof movie should be.

Shelley Long, Gary Cole, and Christine Taylor lead the cast to recreate the iconic 70s TV family. It's a stroke of genius to bring the gang into the 90s. They are a school of fish out of water. The storyline to raise $20,000 for back property taxes sounds so familiar.

Jennifer Elise Cox is especially funny as the head bopping insecure Jan suffering Middle Child Syndrome. "But Jan, you don't have any friends." Everybody in the family is funny. Some of the modern people overplay their characters. It's not really necessary. Most of them are better off playing the straight character to the family's wackiness. Although Alanna Ubach turns in one of the funnier characters as Marcia's pining best friend.

Besides offering countless belly-laughs, this spoof of the legendary sit-com has many authentic elements of the original 70s TV show. The casting in itself was a stroke of genius. I'm still not sure if they actually "froze" Maureen McCormick (the REAL Marcia Brady), only to unthaw her in time to return to her role in this film; the actress playing Marcia in this film looks like a clone of the original! Shelley Long is also striking as Carol, as are Cindy, Bobby and Alice. -- Several original cast members from the TV series had cameos, most noteworthy Ann B. Davis (Alice), who returned as a truck driving confidante to a confused run-away Jan. -- Florence Henderson showed up as her own meddling mother who finally (much overdue) told Jan to "cut the crap!", giving her a swift smack on the cheek, thus curing her of her chronic and tiresome wining. -- We meet the Brady's neighbors the "Dittmeyers", who were frequently mentioned, but never actually shown on the TV program. Here they are no "Fred & Ethel", but scheming, manipulative opportunists, eager to convince the Bradys to sell their house (to them), in order for a big developer to turn the entire neighborhood into a huge building project. -- The film is also loaded with cheesy advice we remember Mike & Carol dishing out in over-dose rations during their 5 year run in prime time (not to mention the zillions of re-runs to follow). This will always be Sherwood Schwartz's biggest hit. The Brady Bunch will go down with Lucy, Andy and Samantha as America's best loved all-time favorite sit coms. The Brady Bunch Movie only intensified America's love affair with the light fluff that dreams are made of. This film is a winner in my book!

OK, I'm as fed up with the polyvinyl, well-scrubbed Brady family as anyone, so a spoof on the entire genre was most refreshing. But I think people who are not familiar with the series may take some pleasure in the 90's-steeped humor that's also present. Certainly not for everyone, but I can only rate a movie as I see it, and I was thoroughly amused (rating: 7/10).

In America, almost all teenagers, who grew up in the late 60's and early 70's, would have loved the TV show. Though I am way past that generation and not even close to America, I still fall in that same category – every fan can only wish for one day- this to become a huge movie- and it did.

Though the humour of this movie is of a sarcastic nature, basically ridiculing this family for being out-dated, it still doesn't make this movie less funnier. It only makes us realize, that TV shows before are of a completely different nature, and with that kind of script, no network would even think of accepting it. This movie covered certain things, which could not have been done on 70's TV- like Peter's growing up dilemmas. Everyone gave brilliant performances- there is homage to certain episodes- most of which were very popular- especially the one with Marcia's swollen nose. A bit of trivia- in the TV series- Mr. Dittmeyer is the Brady's neighbors- though I doubt he has ever appeared in any episode, his name has been mentioned on many episodes.

Anyone who was a fan of the TV series should check this movie out. It is definitely a guilty pleasure, which is worth enjoying.