Cheeseburger Film Sandwich

This is a supposed sequel to a John Landis movie I've never seen called "Kentucky Fried Movie". I will say that this movie is a heck of a lot better than the spoof of T.V. movies that I've seen such as Tunnelvision or The Groove Tube.

The film has some weaknesses. Due to the presence of 5 directors, who all came up with their own material, the film lurches through different types of situations. From hilarious commercials, to spoofing T.V. shows, to SNL style sketch comedy, to even making old black and white short films, as well as the title film, it changes without any rhyme or reason. There are some cruel sketches as well.

Still, the film is a classic because of the memorable characters created. In particular, David Alan Grier's Don "No Soul" Simmons, who appears in the "Blacks With No Soul" and a segment where you can buy his albums are hilarious. I'd love to get those "albums", especially "Don "No Soul" Simmons Gets Down And Funky". I feel that Alfonso Ribeiro's character of Carleton Banks from "The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air" was derived from him; they look, dress, talk, sing, dance, and have the same interests in music. Joey Travolta's attempt to ape his brother John's Barbarino character in the "Amazon Woman" segment is pretty hilarious, too. Of course "Mondo Condo" featuring Arsenio Hall in an apartment cursed with Murphy's Law is still hilarious, as is the two segments featuring Archie Hahn "Real Life Movie Review" and "Roasting A Loved One" (actually based on a show that existed, where comedians got roasted on T.V.). Some great lines from those segments:

"I'm sorry, but I have to give Harvey Pitnik a big thumbs down"

"We're here to put two things to rest: Harvey and the fact that Charlie Callas is funny!"

"We've got two pieces of bad news: Milton Berle couldn't be here and Rip Taylor is."

Even the two black-and-white featurettes are interesting. Ever wanted to see Ed Begley Jr. naked. Here you go. Ever wanted to see a glimpse of what a message film from the 30's about the evils of sexual diseases was like? It's here.

The commercials are alright. Other than the "No Soul" commercials, the Silly Pate (I'm eating Popeye.) comes close, the rest are weak, although the Irving Sidney novel commercial should have given Sidney Sheldon a good idea for a future novel.

The SNL skits are a mixed bag. "Mondo Condo" is a classic. The one with the then married couple of Michelle Pfeiffer and Peter Horton trying to get their delivered baby from a doctor played by Griffin Dunne is great for one line uttered by Horton:

"That's not our son! That's a Mister Potato Head!"

The cruel skit involves Matt Adler, Kelly Preston, Steve Cropper, Howard Hesseman, and Ralph Bellamy and it's about a teenager buying condoms for the first time and finding out that he was the billionth man to buy them and is paraded around in embarrassing fashion. The "Video Date" one is pretty good, until it gets a bit nasty in the end, but since it features Russ Meyer (and Andrew Dice Clay), it wouldn't surprise me if Meyer came up with the plot for this one, as a lot of his movies are like this. The "Two I.D.'s" skit with Steve Guttenberg and Rosanna Arquette is a frightening portent of today's fears of your private life being available for the public to know about. "Video Pirates" is weak, why this one was made is beyond me, as well as seeing Lou Jacobi in a running joke of being trapped on T.V.

The movie says it has a lot of actors in it's opening credits. You'll see old-movie stars, established actors, up and comers, bluesman B.B. King, comedians and cult movie directors such as Meyer and Paul Bartel. As well, one of the most beautiful array of female talent ever assembled. A female cast with Michelle Pfeiffer, Rosanna Arquette, Kelly Preston, Sybil Danning (in the "Amazon Women" segments), Lana Clarkson ("Amazon Women"), Angel Tompkins (Irving Sidney), Carrie Fisher (you Star Wars fans loved her outfit in "Return Of The Jedi"), former Playboy Playmate Monique Gabrielle (an honourable mention in my tops list for beauty) and former Penthouse Pet Corrinne Wahl (nee Alphen). You can't beat that.

Put it all together, and you have a film that must be seen once a year at least. An ambitious project, and even though it has a few flaws, it's great. I wish they'd make something like this today.

Boy, do i love this movie! Im not saying it didnt have any flaws. Id say about 80% of it was very funny. My absolute favorite sketches are the Harvey Pitnik critics corner/funeral sketches. The critics really tore Harvey a new one (LOL)! All the roasters (comedians) were great, but my favorite was Rip Taylor, especially when he says "you know the old saying in show business, get off quick, like Harvey on his wedding night!" When i heard that, I laughed so hard, that i probably have an uncured hernia to this day from it. Of course i cant leave out the blacks without soul/ Don no soul Simmons albums (my second favorite), Arnesio Hall, bs or not, pirates, titans, and every Vangoe must go, and the Amazon Women movie itself. These were all very funny. I cant wait to get this on dvd one day. 8 STARS OUT OF 10.

This is not a great film by any means, but there are some really hilarious, unforgettable sketches in this movie. There's the Playboy bunny who goes grocery shopping naked, goes to church naked and everyone else acts like its normal. The Amazon Women on the Moon sketch is a scream. David Alan Grier is fantastic as the man without soul. There's the Siskel and Ebert-style critique of a man's life. There's also Andrew Dice Clay's finest moment (not like he's had any others) as he screams from a TV set at someone watching his girlfriend's porn video. A very silly movie, but with lots of great moments.

It's really hard to give a score to this movie, as I have seen two or three different versions of the film. The original version appears to have been re-edited to remove some of the dirtier skits (and there were quite a few). Then, less funny skits that were apparently left on the editing room floor were substituted--with less than glowing results.

When the movie is funny, it is side-splittingly funny (especially the teenager buying condoms, the funeral, and Lou Jacobi re-appearing throughout the movie after he is sucked into the television set) but it also tends to fall flat from time to time. This unevenness is probably due to the fact that this movie had MANY different directors--each directing their own skits and then the movie was pieced back together. The end result is highly reminiscent of a better version of Kentucky Fried Movie.

My advice is, see the original un-edited version--but WITHOUT the kids! The edited version just isn't all that funny.

While most people will think this film is plain silly, which it is, it is really quite fun too.

With a few exceptions, the film is about your typical late night television and the crazy ads that used to permeate the airwaves before all the infomercials started taking over in the 90's. In this film, they make fun of those crazy ads and programming by doing outrageous spoof ads interspersed with an old 1950's B movie with a lot of projection problems.

Any couch potato with a good sense of humor and a memory of the 70's & 80's television programming should enjoy this one! This is why I call it a niche movie.