UHF

1989 comedy

Rating: 15/20

Plot: George Newman is a manchild with an overactive imagination. After getting fired from yet another job, he falls into a position as manager of a television station, Channel 62. With a little help from his friends, he transforms Channel 62 from a station that shows reruns of Mr. Ed nobody watches to a station with oddball entertainment suddenly able to compete with the major networks.

I've been on a "Weird Al" kick lately, so I decided to revisit this now instead of waiting around for a Criterion release or the five and a half hour director's cut. I didn't think it was funny in 1989 when I saw it in the theater with my brother. Now I'm older and should actually be more mature and should find it even less funny, but that's not the case at all. It's rarely clever, but Yankovic's odd brand of humor manages to connect more than you'd expect if you just described this to somebody. The parodies and satire are about what you'd expect if you followed the man's 1980's work. The Rambo part and Gandhi II are the best ones. Of course, there's so many ideas here (sort of like Weird Al thought this might be his only chance to make a movie and had to use up every single idea he had) that not all of them are going to work. The "Money For Nothing" parody that cleverly spoofs the partly-animated video (an early-MTV staple) but is all about the Beverly Hillbillies sort of seems out of place. Poodles being tossed from a window though. . .that's always going to be pretty funny. Bonus points for its prescience--it's interesting how the crap on Weird Al's t.v. station is not much different than the crap networks are feeding us today. Michael Richards, pre-Seinfeld, demonstrates the physical comedy and dopiness that would be associated with Kramer in a few years. And the Nanny is also in this. This is frequently dumb, the sort of thing fans of Airplane would appreciate, and has a story that almost gets in the way of the fun, but it's bound to make you laugh while it slurps up your IQ points. Funniest moments: Rambo's makin'-things-explode face, the audience of Weird Al's kiddie show, the guy's pet show and Weird Al and his friend's response, the Indiana Jones parody. . .oh, nevermind. I could go on and on.

Fascinating note: The midget in this one (Billy Barty) appeared in over 120 film and television roles, and although he would have been old enough, was not a Munchkin.

Nostalgic: