Strange Brew

So I caught this flick on Gaia Online last night, eh, and I’m not a hoser so I had to watch it doncha know.

The movie? Strange Brew, the early 80’s comedy from the McKenzie brothers. A truly Canadian comedy from some of the greatest comedians of the 1980’s. (You wonder why all the great comics seem to come from Canada, I think it is because it is so cold up there. Freezes the brain or something.)

The movie itself resembles many movies that come from a skit comedy television program: It has a bit of an over archinig plot, but honestly it feels like a series of skits loosely tied together. Not that it is a problem in this case, the movie is funny in a very early 1980’s way: which is a good thing. You can tell the comedy team has worked together a lot and are very comfortable with each other. It would not surprise me to learn that this movie is largely improvised, with the two McKenzie brothers just throwing out dialogue and seeing what sticks.

(By the way, The McKenzie brothers are played by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, both excellent comedians in their own right.)

The plot, what plot there is, involves the McKinzie’s search to get their father some beer.. They go to the local brewery in search for free beer, since they have no money, end up getting employed and eventually help take down a diabolical scheme to take over the world.

This isn’t a movie that takes itself seriously, and I don’t think the audience should either. With bits like Bob McKenzie drinking more then his weight in Beer (and then putting out a fire) and the two surviving drowning by using the oxygen in empty beer bottles, you will see that this isn’t a movie that is aiming for dramatic grandeur. Instead it is a fun, funny romp through the beer soaked brains of two people that can barely utter intelligible sentences.

That is just fine with me, eh. Now let me pop a cold one, put on my toque, and watch this movie again.

- Warren

This entry was posted on Friday, July 11th, 2008 at 9:57 am and is filed under Columns, Friday Morning Movie Madness, Sections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.