UHF.

Review #1250: UHF.

Cast: 
"Weird Al" Yankovic (George Newman), Kevin McCarthy (R.J. Fletcher), Michael Richards (Stanley Spadowski), David Bowe (Bob Steckler/Bobbo the Clown), Victoria Jackson (Teri Campbell), Fran Drescher (Pamela Finklestein), Stanley Brock (Uncle Harvey Bilchik), Sue Ane Langdon (Aunt Esther Bilchik), Anthony Geary (Philo), Billy Barty (Noodles MacIntosh), Trinidad Silva (Raul Hernandez), and Gedde Watanabe (Kuni) Directed by Jay Levey.

Review:
Sometimes you really need something different in order to get a good laugh. What better way to enjoy the day than with a film featuring Weird Al Yankovic in his only leading role for something that has gradually become a cult classic since its release three decades ago. Yankovic has been doing music for over four decades, with his knack being humorous parody songs (with examples such as "Eat It" and "White & Nerdy") that I can attest to enjoying on occasion. The idea for a film came from Yankovic and his manager Jay Levey that would be based on the approach he made when doing music videos but with (in the words of Yankovic) "TV commercial parodies, movie trailer parodies, and obviously TV show parodies" - this episodic approach certainly seems familiar (with Airplane! (1980) coming to mind), and in the right hands this could work really well. Who could not resist shows such as practical jokes & bloopers, a weird clubhouse show, wheel of fish and commercials that range from spatula shops to "Gandhi II"? It did not prove to be a major success upon release; despite a $5 million budget, the film made just six million at the box office while receiving tepid reception in a month full of big movies (Licence to Kill, Lethal Weapon 2, and Weekend at Bernie's, for example). This is a wonderful gag-fest kind of film, happy to deliver weird humor to those who are curious for said fun with a fairly game cast that rises above a fairly predicable and fairly thin story. Yankovic plays a decent straight man, adept at rolling with the material (imagined or not) without too much difficulty, although the chemistry between him and Jackson (doing fine with a pleasant if not too big role) doesn't really register many big moments. McCarthy is enjoyable with such a hammy role that inspires dry gruffness for which he seems to be having fun doing. Richards, featured between his noted work on Fridays and Seinfeld, proves wonderful in delivering rapid laughs without caution - he seizes his moments with zest and keeps the film spinning. The others do fine jobs in their occasional moments on screen, such as Geary and his offbeat charm or Silva (who contributes one of my favorite puns about not needing badgers). The film lands more often than not with its barrage of jokes on numerous things that land fairly well now, and it could be argued that the film laid groundwork for the weird humor that can pop up in various forms on the Internet (the accident involving a saw seems especially ripe for someone to make a dark video to emulate). It never seems to run with ideas too half-baked - or at least it knows when to roll to its next show. A more seasoned filmmaker would've probably delivered a bit more depth with these characters before driving up with humor, although I wonder if it would have really made for a better experience overall. The film rolls along in its 97 minutes without too much trouble - it isn't hard to see where it goes to get from point to point besides it's humor, but at least it puts some sort of effort to carry along without becoming too eccentric or one dimensional. It freewheels with charm enough to make this a winner to recommend, one that suits well for the current times with a nudge and a weird grin on its face.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.