Strange Brew DVD Review
Posted by PK on 10.19.2002
Taken from Canadian version of Saturday Night Live, SCTV, The McKenzie Brothers take the big screen in Strange Brew.
Strange Brew (1983, MGM)
Release Date: October 1st, 2002
Written By: Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis
Directed By: Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis
Starring: Dave Thomas, Rick Moranis, & Max Von Sydow
The Film
Taken from Canadian version of Saturday Night Live, SCTV, The McKenzie Brothers take the big screen in Strange Brew. Bob (Moranis) and Doug (Thomas) McKenzie attempt to show us their Sci-Fi thriller movie, but the reel burns out, which sends our guys running from a mob of movie-goers wanting their money back. They then attempt to get free beer, by stuffing a mouse in a bottle, saying that it came that way, and got sent up the Elsinore Brewery by the local beer store clerk.
This is, for all intense and purposes, is where our movie begins. While complaining about the mouse in the bottle, the owners of the Brewery give the McKenzie Brothers a job watching the bottling line, and looking for mice in the bottles, what a twist of fate, eh? The Brewmaster of Elsinore (Von Sydow) is busy cooking up a mind control drug that he mixes in with the beer, and feeds to the mental patients in the asylum next to the brewery. He plans on unleashing it on the world within the next few days, just in time for our drunk, donut eating heroes! Bob and Doug pretty much stumble on the scheme, and now they have to help Pamela, the brewery owner, save the world!
Before you go out and see this movie, which I highly recommend, it must be said that this movie is a TV Show sketch gone to the movie theaters. And while it’s not a bomb like The Ladies Man or It’s Pat, you have to remember to approach the movie like it was made by Beavis and Butthead.
Video Quality
The DVD comes in Letterbox format. The visual is not as crisp as normal DVD’s, but lets remember this movie is almost 20 years old, and was on a very low budget. The Canadian landscape looks grayish and dirty, but then again, the words ‘low budget’ comes to mind, and it is something I, for one, can overlook.
Audio Quality
The movie is in Dolby Surround, and I don’t see any reason why anything more then that is needed.
Special Features
We get a short of the upcoming “Animated Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie.” This looks to be just as much as a hit as Clerks: The Animated Series, even though it was hilarious. Also, they included the original SCTV McKenzie Brothers Skit “How To Stuff A Mouse In A Bottle.”
The Movie is in English and French, and is subtitled in English, French, and Spanish. The Theatrical Trailer is on there, along with Bios of the Cast.
Film: 8.0
Video Quality: 5.0
Audio Quality: 5.0
Special Features: 7.0
The 411: No cinematic genius here, but be ready to have you gut busted. These two hosers’ stupidity is just down right hilarious. I highly recommend this movie for your next “Drinking Party.”
