Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy (1996)

Directed: Kelly Makin

Writers: Norm Hiscock, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin Macdonald, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson

"So I hear dad's dead. Hey, is that egg nog?"

The famous Canadian comedy troupe's film is a heavy handed critique of the pharmaceutical industry, centered around one doctor and a pill that makes you happy. The plot follows the fate of Doctor Christ Copper, inventor of the drug played by Kevin MacDonald. However, the plot also follows the path, albeit loosely, of a few other characters as well: A repressed queer, the front man of a heavy metal group etc. These character, although sometimes are quite funny (especially the repressed homosexual, played by Scott Thompson) they are simply used to show the widespread effect of the drug, a series of mediocre vignettes. The film does a surprisingly good job of staying on plot, and because it's a pretty straightforward plot, this is good. What is not good however, is just how simple the plot is. It's terribly predictable, doctor is forced to release drug, drug is immensely popular, doctor forgets who is and starts living a crazy life of excess, drug has major problem, doctor vows to take it down. It's boring, and what's worse is that they Kevin MacDonald is easily the weakest actor of the group, and yet he gets the most screen time. Although a few of the jokes and gags merit a laugh or too, the film is not nearly as funny as I expected. Anyone who has ever seen a kids in the hall episode knows how insane and absurd their sketches can be, and it seems like they were constrained by the plot rather than inspired by it.

As far as everything else goes, mise-en-scene, sound, cinematography, what can I say? There really is nothing special going here, the film is directed like any other comedy film, situations are created for jokes to exist in, people laugh. The set pieces are usually pretty ordinary (with a few notable exceptions, the funny advertisement in the board room for example), the sound is functional, and I have a hard time even remember the sound track, which I think was just mood music or maybe a score, but it's kinda of like really average wall paper, and just blends in so well you hardly notice. My only other complaint about the film is that they were constantly trying to fit in characters from the series, whether it was relevant or not. It's like they knew that they're fans would be disappointed by their lack of insanity, so they tried to put as much inside stuff as possible to balance it out. It's like someone constantly winking at you saying "remember this guy" throughout a play. It's stupid, knock it off.

Overall, this film was immensely disappointing. Although not terrible (there are certainly much worse comedies out there) this wasn't up to par to the usual kids in the hall level. If your a hardcore fan, I'm sure nothing I say here will stop you from seeing the film. If your a fan, than spare yourself the disappointment, and just rent the series instead.