Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam

You can't describe this as the first Ernest movie because it's not part of the Ernest-movie genre. It's a wickedly weird comic masterpiece that will have you laughing out loud.

As far as stories go, it seems that the writers here could only pass a kindergarten story writing class. Plot? Dr. Otto wants to destroy the world! That's all.

However, what you get is the Brilliance of Jim Varney, not as Ernest for 90 minutes (I'll be the first to admit that to be a hard challenge), but Jim portraying a variety of other Characters that we only get glimpses of in other movies and his TV series. He is brilliant as he throws himself into these wild, wacky characters. Think of it as a bunch of 10-20 minute short films each with a different lead character by Varney, and each around a central theme that were spliced together, each short fairy self contained. It's much easier to watch this movie then.

If you want to see some great character acting (or at least Jim Varney not playing Ernest), definitely watch this movie if you can find it.

A dark comedy, a twist that is somewhere between Ernest and Tim Burton, very cheaply made but well done, surrealistic plot with very cool characters made especially by the man Jim Varney. This movie is like watching a dream and then waking up not having any idea what to think, what a great flick.

This is officially the first film in the long running Ernest series. It was based on a series of commercials. Ernest himself actually only has two minutes of screen time in the entire movie. He turns into this supervillain named Dr. Otto. At least I think that's him or does he turn into Ernest? He tries to take over the world by destroying the economy.

A lot of this seems to be filmed in the dark, but it also surprisingly has a lot of color. My favorite part is when there's a newspaper that says "Francs Collapse", only for a guy named Frank to literally collapse. I thought this was a compilation film at first. It kind of was, as we got to see Jim Varney in all these different personas that did seem like separate parts. The film isn't memorable, but is completely harmless. It's the highest rated Ernest movie here, but I'd probably say "Ernest Saves Christmas" is the best, not that any of them are technically good. **1/2

This is the stupidest movie you will ever see. There is no plot, and the scenes change constantly, with none of the scenes connected to the last. This is the kind of movie you hate to have to watch. Though there are a few funny parts, it is not worth watching at all.