Strange Brew (1983)

The Age of Commercialism

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Here's a film I put into a category for achieving the lowest common denominator to appeal to it's many fans. I'd never seen SCTV's 'Great White North' segments but Bob and Doug McKenzie's fame became so ubiquitous back in the Eighties it was hard to escape their presence. Without meaning any offense to the principal players, I think their names could be aptly parodied as Rick Moronic and Dave Dumbass. There's actually some funny stuff going on in the picture but much of it comes across as forced, and I would have appreciated a story with more subtle humor. I can't imagine Max von Sydow needing a paycheck to appear here but I guess even some of the greats are allowed their career mistakes. But giving the movie credit where credit is due, there was no profanity or nudity in the picture, which only leads one to consider - how did that happen?

There's no way you can describe the vibe of "SCTV" (TV series, 1977-84) to anyone who wasn't in on it to start with. It's like trying to describe how you felt when you saw the original cast of "Saturday Night Live." However, for the pop-culture-history-impaired, "SCTV" was set at an imaginary TV station that allowed for wacko "local" characters as well as dead-on parodies of any major film or TV show you've ever seen. Since the show was produced in Canada, Canadian TV decided they needed two minutes of Canadian content each week. Thus were born Bob and Doug MacKenzie (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas), two toque-wearing siblings who blathered on about the virtues of beer and back bacon."Bob and Doug Mackenzie" were like "SNL's" "Wayne's World" in the early '90s. The first time I saw them, I completely did not get them. After that, I couldn't wait for their next appearance.All that is by way of saying that "Strange Brew" is about as funny a movie version of the Mackenzie Bros. sketches as you could ask for. The movie begins predictably (and hilariously) with Bob and Doug trying and failing miserably to move their "Great White North" TV segment into feature films. (The moment where Doug does the "movie theme" kills me every time.) From there, the movie goes on to a half-baked plot about the brothers uncovering espionage at the local brewery (run by Paul Dooley and Ingmar Bergman veteran Max von Sydow, neither of whom seems to have any idea how they got into this movie). Basically, it plays like a Cheech & Chong movie for the '80s, with beer taking the place of illicit drugs.That said, it manages to come up with a fair number of laughs, as when the Mackenzies take brief digs at "Star Wars," or when their dog Hosehead unexpectedly saves the day at movie's end.If you're unfamiliar with the Mackenzie milieu, the DVD of the movie will help you out. It has an old "SCTV" Mackenzie sketch, as well as a brief but funny animated version of the brothers.Great comedy can never be properly explained to the uninitiated. On that basis, "Strange Brew" is a classic.

Once in a while, a comedy comes along that is so funny and so ridiculous at the same time that it's automatically destined for cult status. In 1983, "Strange Brew" was that comedy.Spinning off from Canada's comedy variety show "SCTV," "Strange Brew" follows the escapades of Bob and Doug McKenzie (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas) following a failed venture at making a hysterically intentionally cheesy movie. In their unending quest for beer that follows, they eventually get a job at a brewery, where they drink beer, woo the young new owner, drink more beer, discover a plot for world domination orchestrated by Max von Sydow (yes, THAT Max von Sydow), and drink more beer. What follows is a cornucopia of hilarity that can only be explained if you watch it.Decades after its release, "Strange Brew" continues to induce guffaws in young and old people alike. It's the perfect screwball comedy to watch with a bunch of friends. So's all you hosers grab yourselves a beer and doughnut and enjoy the movie, eh!

Highbrows need not apply - at the Elsinore Brewery, being a numb minded idiot is not a problem. For instance- the McKenzie brothers show up early for work on their first day... and fueled up by donuts and a beer or two from their capacious parka pockets, they are ready to take on anything (assuming they still recognize anything...) . Seriously folks, I think this movie is a must have - I howled when I first saw it, and it IS actually suitable for children - my grandson blew his drink out his nose he laughed so hard. This movie works as well now as it did 25 years ago. Dumb lines abound - "look, it's makin' them fight", sure, the hockey sequence doesn't make much sense, but it is funny. Max Von Sydow is suitably threatening as the villain, whilst he makes attempts to control his worthless henchman. The matte paintings of the Elsinore Brewery and the "Royal Canadian Institute for the Mentally Insane" are nicely done - and well, who wouldn't want an underground tunnel linking an insane asylum and a brewery...? Overall I think this film is a wonderful piece of silliness that will remain a classic. "EH?"