The Wedding Singer

The Wedding Singer
February 13, 1998
New Line Cinema
Comedy, Romance, Historical
VHS
B

I'm not an Adam Sandler fan and I don't think this movie particularly captures the '80s, especially 1985.  (It's like they threw the decade into a blender, with JR's shooting here and Miami Vice there, and a soundtrack that sounds mostly like '83, admittedly not unlike Romy & Michele.)  And yet, this is one of the better rom-coms of its era, still holding up well, although more time has passed since '98 than there had between '98 and '85.

While not all the credit is due to 22-year-old but already very experienced Drew Barrymore (John's granddaughter), I do think the teaming of her and Sandler brings out his sweetness, which affects the whole movie.  By the time an entire planeload of strangers (including Billy Idol as himself) is rooting for Sandler's Robbie to win Barrymore's Julia away from her scummy fiance, you have to have a heart of stone (or at least an aversion to rom-coms) to not yourself tear up at the "Grow Old with You" song.

This is not to say that the movie doesn't have the usual tasteless Sandler humor.  (I could've done without the ass-grabbing slow-dance, especially since it includes pubescent-adult pairings.)  There are children (the youngest about four) and old people saying allegedly hilarious and outrageous things.  Many of the '80s jokes fall flat.  Still, there is enough to enjoy here that it's worth viewing, and re-viewing.

I want to give shout-outs to three supporting cast members.  Former Marcia Brady imitator Christine Taylor is almost unrecognizable but equally good as Julia's slutty but kind cousin Holly.  Alexis Arquette is fun as Robbie's friend and bandmate George (who idolizes Boy George).  Arquette was Dick in Threesome and in a way these films show part of the the queer timeline of his/her life, since the performer would transition to female around 2006.  The absolute best cameo in the movie is Steve Buscemi's  David Veltri, two scenes (one at the beginning and one at the end) that he absolutely steals.

Incredibly, 78-year-old Sid Newman, who plays Frank, was Boy on Trolley in 1944's Meet Me in St. Louis, so I guess he beats George Burns, Groucho Marx, and Debbie Reynolds for longevity, although he's nowhere near their level of fame.  Marc Lonow, who's the Father of the Bride (I think the one who beats up Robbie), was Dave (the uptight married guy) twenty years earlier, in Thank God It's Friday.   Carmen Filpi, who's Old Man at Bar, had a small but pivotal role as Old Man Withers in Wayne's World.  Angela Paton was much more memorable as Mrs. Lancaster in Groundhog Day than she is as Faye here. Jason Cottle and Jenna Byrne, who play Scott and Cindy Castellucucci here, were in Wag the Dog as A.D. and Sharon respectively.

Nearly all of Priscilla Cory's credits read "Pretty Brunette" something, so she's Pretty Brunette Hostess here and would be Pretty Brunette High School Student in Barrymore's Never Been Kissed.  Allen Covert, who plays Sammy (Robbie's friend who idolizes Fonzie and Michael Jackson), would appear there as Roger in Op-Ed.

I don't have any other credits for rapper Ellen Albertini Dow, but she just passed away, at 101!

Nice day for a white wedding.

A Very Brady Sequel

A Very Brady Sequel
August 23, 1996
Paramount
Comedy, Musical
DVD
B+

Yes, the sequel is better than its predecessor.  It's funnier, more focused, more musical, and yes, more Brady.  (Bradier?)  Even the youngest kids seem to have more to do here, although again the Marcia-Jan rivalry is the highlight, with Jan going to great lengths to convince her popular older sister of the existence of George Glass.  This seems to have struck a chord in recent months, with even "Sure, Jan" having gone viral.

The main plot though is about a conman who pretends to be Mrs. Brady's not actually dead husband.  He's played by Tim Matheson who had done his share of '60s TV and movies, notably as the college-age dad in How to Commit Marriage (then spelling his last name Matthieson).  This makes his horror at the Bradys, particularly their tendency to burst into bright, cheerful songs and choreography, all the better, with the Brady Kids mushroom trip a high comedically and otherwise.  His "return" also means that Greg and Marcia realize they're not actually related (even by marriage), which leads to some borderline incestuous lust that you're either going to find disgusting or hilarious.  (I'm in the latter camp of course.)

There are again a lot of in-jokes for Brady fans, and this time a pay-off that involves Gilligan's Island.  Also, we get a cameo from Barbara Eden, who seems hardly to have aged in the almost 40 years since she was Miss Carstairs in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? However, neither she nor Groucho now holds the longevity record, because Art Patron Sue Casey turns up 43 years after she was Tall Girl at Arcade in Band Wagon.  (And I know her best as the MILFy Anne Duval in Catalina Caper, but the MST3K version will be discussed on my TV blog someday.)  Steven Gilford and RuPaul reprise their roles as respectively Mr. Philips and Ms. Cummings.

Two of the four writers, Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, would also co-write Josie and the Pussycats, which they would co-direct as well.  In a different way than Bonnie & Terry Turner, they've got a love for garish but bubbly pop-culture kitsch.

The Brady Bunch Movie

The Brady Bunch Movie
February 17, 1995
Paramount
Comedy, Musical
DVD
B

This was released on my 27th birthday and I saw it with two younger friends, who are still two of my best friends.  We all enjoyed the movie, but I was the one laughing at nearly every detail, down to the way that Mike hits a golf ball into a glass bottle.  You have to remember that I'd grown up watching B Bunch multiple times, but this was still pre-Internet (for me anyway) and I hadn't had anyone to discuss such details with.  At the time, I probably would've given the movie an A-.

When I saw it again, after buying it and its very Brady sequel on DVD, I found the humor much staler and contrived.  This time, I guess it caught me in the right mood, and I could appreciate it for what it is: a loving if ribald parody of the show.  Having the Bradys inexplicably stuck in the '70s in the era of grunge and car phones (it's never explained why they haven't aged beyond the fourth or fifth season, although there may be some Groundhog-Day-like theory out there) works because their sunny view of life was out of place in the early '70s to begin with.  Also, even after all the Brady parodies in the past two decades (including the clever recent Snickers commercial), this still holds up, due to that attention to detail (most notably in the costumes) and some impersonations that range from adequate to uncanny.

For convenience's sake, I'm going to, well, bunch the Bradys and Alice (with the exception of Shelley Long) under the tag of "Movie Bradys."  They are composed of

• Gary Cole as Mike
• Henriette Mantel as Alice
• Christopher Daniel Barnes as Greg
• Christine Taylor as Marcia
• Paul Sutera as Peter
• Jennifer Elise Cox as Jan
• Jesse Lee Soffer as Bobby
• Olivia Hack as Cindy

The younger kids are adequate.  They look and sound vaguely like the originals.  Bobby is given almost nothing to do, although lisping Thindy has some moments, mostly interacting with the ever versatile Michael McKean, as scheming neighbor Larry Dittmeyer.  Sutera isn't quite right as Peter but he does OK, and ironically is more successful with girls than Greg, whose "Hey, groovy chick" patter and tendency to serenade with songs like "Clowns Never Laughed Before" scare off more chicks than they attract.  Barnes was in a classic Brady homage on the otherwise forgettable sitcom Day by Day, which I will discuss on my TV blog someday.  He's not quite right as Greg either, particularly in looks, but he certainly gives it his all.

Mantel doesn't look quite right as Alice, but she gives a good impersonation.  Long has the burden of her own sitcom image as Diane Chambers on Cheers, but she does capture the worried and cheerful sides of Carol Brady, although not the naughty side.  (Florence Henderson is one of the actual Bradys making a cameo, and at the age of about 60 she shows off a nice pair of gams.)

The real stand-outs are Cole, Taylor, and Cox.  Except for Taylor, none of them exactly looks like their TV counterparts, but they've got the voices and mannerisms down cold.  In this and the sequel (which inspired a lot of memes a couple months ago, more of that in its place), the Marcia-Jan rivalry is raised to eleven, with Taylor's sweet bitch of a Marcia playing off of Cox's neurotic turned psychotic Jan.  (Cox had played Jan onstage in The Real Live Brady Bunch, so she's really got it down pat, from the voice to the hair-swinging.)  And Cole makes us realize how empty Mike's platitudes could be, while he delivers the nonsense with Robert-Reedian earnestness.  Kudos to director Betty Thomas and to screenwriters Bonnie & Terry Turner (of Wayne's World).

If I have any quibbles, I think there should've been more musical numbers (the one at Sears is hilariously out of the blue), and maybe even more cameos.  Note, not only does Davy Jones sing at the dance for Marcia (as he did on the show), but Peter Tork and Mickey Dolenz appear later.  Also of note, the movie is relatively gay-friendly, with not only a gay male interracial couple as neighbors, but also Marcia's likable lesbian best friend.  (And even she does better with the ladies than poor Greg.)

This time Archie Hahn plays Mr. Swanson.  Selma Archerd, who had played a PTA Lady on The Brady Bunch in '73, and had various other minor roles in TV and film, including The Big Bus and Can't Stop the Music, here plays a neighbor.  Reni Santoni, who plays a Police Officer, dubbed the voice of the State Trooper in Groundhog Day.

Bobbie Sunday Starr, who plays Girl who gives Marcia dirty look, would be Passenger in Jeep in Clueless.  David Leisure, who plays Jason here, would be Mr. Chapin in 10 Things I Hate About You.  Alanna Ubach, who's Marcia's lesbian friend Noreen, would be Serena in Legally Blonde.  Yolanda Snowball, who plays Mrs. Yeager, would be a Receptionist in Easy A.  (The man playing her husband is much more recognizable, since James Avery was already established as Uncle Philip on TV's Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.)

Those reprising roles in the sequel, besides the Bradys and Alice of course, include Stephen Gilborn (whom I best know as Ellen's father on Ellen) as Mike's boss Mr. Phillips and RuPaul as scene-stealing guidance counselor Mrs./Ms. Cummings.