Directed By: Betty Thomas
Written By: Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, Rick Copp & Laurice Elehwany
Based On Characters created By: Sherwood Schwartz
Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Editor: Peter Teschner
Cast: Gary Cole, Shelly Long, Christine Taylor, Michael McKean, Judith Ivey, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Jennifer Elise Cox, Olivia Hack, David Graf, Megan Ward, Jack Noseworthy, Alanna Ubach, R.D. Robb, Shane Conrad, Marissa Ribisi, David Leisure, David Proval, Tamara Mello, Jennifer Blanc Biehn, Rupaul, Christopher Knight, Eric Nies, Ann B. Davis, Florence Henderson
Mike Brady and his wife Carol Brady have just only one week to come up with $20,000 in back taxes or their house is sold and they'll have no choice but to move. And it's up to the Brady kids to secretly raise money and save the homestead before they lose their house to their scheming neighbor Mr. Larry Dittmeyer.
You don’t have to be a fan or have watched the show regularly to like the film. Though Your enjoyment of the film might be more if you are or have seen it before. It’s pretty simple to follow but your knowledge of the show will make the film more entertains and as a fan of the original television show. This was a laugh riot when it came out.
The cast not only do good impressions of the original cast but also Make the characters their own.
Some of the comedy goes a bit far with the comedy to shock And clad with the different set of values the Brady’s exhibit. Though the film also brilliantly dissects the show and it’s characters and then recontextualizes them while also showcasing how times have changed. In modernizing the show it leaves the question open. Did the Brady’s teleport to the future or are they just strange and stuck in the past in a collective arrested development?
This was one of the big and first television properties to be modernized and remade for the big screen. Luckily this set the bar before it seemed to become about star stunt casting or just general laziness when it came to writing and making these types of films. Because it soon became about remaking moments and setting up characters. So it was more for fans of the show with weak and nonsensical stories.
Which the filmmakers thought they could get away with due to television shows having their stories week to week that only needed to fill 26 minutes and just enrich the main characters behavior in different situations.
It’s a bit harder when making a 90 minute feature. So if you weren’t familiar with the shows watching the movie you learn about the show but leave with a very weak film. Luckily that is not the case here.
Like the best televison to film adaptations this more has a respect for the original, material and it’s fans and realizes that it has to work as a comedy on it’s own also.
The film also recalls many of the shows moments and not only recreates them but allows them to be repurposed and have their own spin.
Directed by the gifted comedy director and Emmy winning actress Betty Thomas. She understands the beats of the show and the story. As she is a show biz veteran who has been on both sides of the camera and know how to affect the audience.
The innocent reactions to raunchiness are hilarious. Though most of the modern counterparts they interact with seem more sitcomish and unbelievable unusually smarmy. Except for Jean Smart as the villains sexpot wife. She is hilarious throughout though doesn’t have too many or in my opinion enough is a far cry from her DESIGNING WOMEN character days.
It also gives Shelly long a big screen role in which to be memorable and also as she was an actress who first got discovered playing a television character. Gets to recreate another television icon.
The movie also allows for plenty of cameos from the show’s original cast as well as many cameos from celebrities of the day and from back in the show’s day.
This is a movie essentially about the clash of culture and values in all aspects.
Grade: B-
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