"Take off you hoser!"

[Graham Rae]

Have to disagree with the guy who gave Strange Brew a less-than-adoring review. Guy musta been drunk when he wrote that crap - or sober when he watched the film, which is a genuine classic. It's incredibly well written comedy ("We were the only ones left on the planet after the Holocaust. Like Russia blew up the US and the US blew up Russia, eh" - excellent stuff - explaining what a Holocaust is for the supposedly dimbulb audience), and Bob and Doug McKenzie are cult heroes. I was probably the only person in Scotland to cheer when I saw a cinema ad recently using the voices of Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas for two cartoon moose, but hey - the whole world should bow down to this 21-year-old slice of classic Canadian comedy.

"Fleshy-heady mutant, are you friendly?"
"No way, eh! R...radiation has made me an enemy of civilization!"

Hoser G.

[Furious D]

I grew up watching Bob & Doug MacKenzie on SCTV when I was a kid. I recently found out that the characters were created to fill in 2 minutes of Canadian Content time required by the CBC network. Their TV bits were often unscripted and went off on strangely funny tangents.

Hell, I even got their album when I was in the 5th grade. They had a great way of interpreting the metric system. "Just double it and add 30!" and the wonderful drinking game:'Beer Hunter' where you played to lose.:D

[Graham Rae]

"Chuck Norris for defense, eh?" (Random film-line chaos...)

Yeah, Beer Hunter, where they would shake a can of beer up, put it in a bag full of them, then take them out one by one and hold them against their head a la Christopher Walken in Deer Hunter...the loser was the one who got a beer shampoo. I have the album that track is on. I also have the soundtrack album for the film. I got both several years ago at a record fair. It was the first time I'd ever even thought to look for Bob and Doug stuff...and sure enough, in one stall were both the albums, going cheap and in brand new condition. Some things are just meant to be. You know you can get Bob and Doug (in)action figures now? You buy them seperate: it's them sitting with crates of beer and donuts. All you need from life. I never got those figures. Never had the money at the time. Still would buy them, though, if I saw them again.

"Hey Rosie, I saw that hat-trick you scored against Chekoslovakia, beauty...I know you like it when people call you Rosie...sorry about that nervous breakdown, I guess it really screwed up your career, eh?"

Seen the film way too many times; not that I truly think such a thing is possible. I'm pretty obscure for a person from Scotland when it comes to Strange Brew, I must admit...and you've now put me in the mood to get a few beers in and watch the thing again, cos I own two copies. Max Von Sydow is excellent in it, really plays the comic evil genius part well.

"Me and my brother used to say that drowning in beer would be like heaven, eh...now he's not here and I've got two soakers...this isn't heaven, this sucks!"

The impromptu nature of the stuff in it comes through, especially at the end of the film, where Moranis and Thomas are both clearly really drunk in front of the camera and rambling obscure, surreal, hilarious rubbish. They point to the credits rolling up on the screen: "You know what that guy is? He's a gaffer. They gaff. And they live up in the rafters, too, and come down at mealtimes. Living proof of evolution." This truly is an excellent, underrated film.

"You're just a little guy. Those cons are gonna be loving you from dawn 'til dusk."
"And what about you, where'll you be?"
"I'll be in the cafeteria, selling smokes."

You know, I just love stuff like the parody film The Mutants of 2051 AD (hell, just love the parody film, period), where they have lines like "I was the only one left on the planet after the holocaust. There wasn't much to do. All the bowling alleys had been wrecked, so's I spent most of my time looking for beer." And then a minute later Moranis is going on about "One day I was out in the Forbidden Zone looking for a place to build a city for me and my family." The characters are sci-fi geeks and they have made elementary writing and continuity errors...it's truly great character-driven stuff. And then Moranis (I'm laughing here) has his tape measure and unspools it to use as a comlink....quality mayhem.

"He saw Jedi seventeen times...beauty, eh?"

Beauty indeed. If I had a hat (preferably a cheesy woollen one with a pompom on top) I'd take it off to Moranis and Thomas for that film.

Guaranteed, eh.

[Furious D]

Originally posted by Graham Rae
Beauty indeed. If I had a hat (preferably a cheesy woollen one with a pompom on top) I'd take it off to Moranis and Thomas for that film.

Guaranteed, eh.

That hat is called a toque, pronounced took. An essential bit of Canadiana any Bob & Doug fan needs to know.

[Graham Rae]

"Ten years after World War 4, eh?"

Well, ya know, I took off my took to them many years ago for that film and would still take off my took to them for it. I actually could use a took right now; it's freezing in Scotland at this time of the year.

I got a few beers and watched Strange Brew for the first time in a while on Saturday; laughed like hell throughout. The film's insane, anarchic sense of humor never ages. Like the flying dog Hosehead (in a Superman cape, no less) or the drugged beer mind-control experiments or the 'bullets up the nose' courtroom scene or...

I could go on and on.

Cheers m'man, take (took) it easy,
G.

[BuckyMcSatan]

You know, I had forgotten just how funny that film really is. Just the quotes Graham posted has got me going...

I think that the reason people other than Canadians are a little wary of it's humor could be the possibility of the regional accents.

Think about the response of a lot of filmgoers who saw "Fargo" which I find to be in a completely different category, but some people just couldn't get past the dialect to enjoy the film.

I have friends that just will not watch Mike Leigh's "Naked" because of the thick accents and "mumbling" of several characters.

Weird, but possibly the reason for lack of enjoyment. Although, this is the same as saying I can't watch a subtitled film. People can really miss out on great films because they refuse to read subtitles.

I just got a buddy of mine to appreciate widscreen on DVD - I mean, useless of course, now that HD is coming into the market full force. :)