Good Burger

Good Burger

Yeah, I’m actually here watching a burger restaurant movie from the 90s with Kenan and Kel in the main cast and supporting roles from the legendary Sinbad and Abe Vigoda. Yes, it is obvious that writing of such a movie is not winning any awards anytime soon. Nevertheless, what this ridiculous movie is about, how it whips together?

Most of the humor in this movie comes from the characters being… well, dunderheads. Which is fine, honestly because that’s their characters, and this is a comedy. Of course, you need some source of humor to fulfill your movie’s purpose as, well, a comedy. And I have to be honest about this it is not high brow humor most of the humor can be described as “lowbrow”. But that’s okay, because it fits. The tone is entirely ridiculous, with a capital R.

Do I would regard the ‘Strawberry Jacuzzi’ or ‘Grape Nose Boy’ as high art? Of course not. Still, I suppose a critical examination must seek to go beyond this film is comprised of some jokes and I laughed most of them. So here we go.

The average audience member, Dexter, is introduced as a leisurely devotee of pleasure, wanting only to eat, party, and date attractive girls. His first peep or act of hedonism would be driving his mother’s vehicle without a permit and this is precisely the reason (or one of them) that puts him in trouble later when he (Ed) crashes 2000 pounds away. After earning thirty pounds one week at Good Burger, he cleverly dupes Ed of a large chunk of the profits of his secret sauce in order to make life easier for the summer. Everything else, like the time and those involved in the process, is of lesser importance: the place is where Dexter wants to win.

But how could one sleep in peace and have slumber free from anxiety when one kills one’s own close friend? And what made it worse was that Ed was appeased so easily.

The opening image of the film shows Ed visualizing the life-sized hamburgers as he first skates to his workplace which results in chaos and the car crash by Dexter. He goes crazy in life but rather for the “guy” side and not as a hedonistic. However, unlike Dexter, Ed’s foolishness is a balance of a more benevolent persona. While Dexter expresses pain over loss of his father, Ed who made a pittance out of the secret sauce, makes a lovely present to him the last object that his father handed over to him. Seemingly without any consideration. It’s actually a rather touching moment. That, and Ed can make some rather quick deductions on how to stop Mondo Burger using their own attempts at a market advantage against them. So in this case, he is not a one-dimensional idiot and it works.

I will say though, they somehow didn’t manage to sell the idea of Dexter evolving into a more caring pro-active character too.

The other characters serve their purpose within the context of the script. Mr. Wheat is just an unfortunate atavistic teacher who is on the receiving end of Dexter and Ed’s crazy schemes, Otis is the aged joker who adds comic relief (even if it’s not completely disturbing due to the performance of Abe Vigoda), Roxanne is the token woman, and Kurt is the brutal and corrupt head of Mondo Burger. More development would indeed be great, but I am not grumbling. I had a good laugh.

Also, the plot is extremely, extremely ridiculous. And this is where I’m finished trying to critique this movie. It begins with a fast food outlet trying to take homeowner a franchise that is run by a wannabe dictator. It goes on to have three of the key characters incarcerated in a mental hospital… from which they escape by dancing to Parliament Funkadelic. Does it exactly make much sense? Not at all. Is it funny? Hell. Yes.

That just about nails it for this film. There is little complexity or creative explorations in the script rather it is more of a chaotic affair, where puns and gags have been shoehorned at the expense of plot. But, if you really want to spend one and a half hours of your time and have a chuckle at or with, Good Burger is not the worse one to watch.

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