A Very Brady Sequel [PG]

There are one or two ‘dramas’ happening in the Brady house: Greg and Marcia have moved out of their rooms and are sharing the attic, which has its consequences, Peter is unsure about whether or not he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps career-wise, and the whole family is finding it tricky to keep the surprise anniversary wedding a secret from Carol. But all these are thrown into perspective when a mysterious man who claims to be Carol’s long-lost first husband, Roy Martin, comes into their lives. Carol is not sure what to do, Mike has trouble coming to grips with the situation, and it transpires that Roy is actually not who he says he is… 

I remember watching this movie when I was little and so I was ready for a hit of nostalgia when I discovered that it was on TV tonight. It was bad when I was little and it’s still bad now all these years later. Although, I have to admit that watching it again as an adult, I was able to pick up on all the whimsical and sometimes quite clever gags that were incorporated within the writing. A Very Brady Sequel is an homage to all those popular TV series of the 70s: not just The Brady Bunch, but I Dream of Genie and there’s quite a funny little reference to Gilligan’s Island in there as well. There may be a few more that I missed, (we have to remember that I was born in the 90s), but at least I’ve grown up enough to glean that there was a fair bit of cleverness behind this film and not just copious levels of ham. 

There are one or two ‘dramas’ happening in the Brady house: Greg and Marcia have moved out of their rooms and are sharing the attic, which has its consequences, Peter is unsure about whether or not he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps career-wise, and the whole family is finding it tricky to keep the surprise anniversary wedding a secret from Carol. But all these are thrown into perspective when a mysterious man who claims to be Carol’s lost first husband, Roy Martin, comes into their lives. Carol is not sure what to do, Mike has trouble coming to grips with the situation, and it transpires that Roy is actually not who he says he is… 

I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen an episode of the original Brady Bunch so whatever opinions I voice here are welcome to be seen as groundless and completely redundant, nonetheless I’ll voice them anyway. I have to admit that I actually really don’t mind this movie. Yes, you look at it as a modern audience and it’s cheesy, overacted, and highly camp to the point of being bitter and cringe-worthy, but there actually is a fair amount of cleverness behind it. 

The setting of the movie is actually modern society (90s this would have been) and it’s the insertion of the Brady family into this society that makes the movie so funny. We only really get to see things that heavily feature the Brady family, so obviously we say “oh this is so bad and overacted and over-camp and ra ra ra”, but what the movie is actually doing is taking a jab at the ridiculousness of the Bradys: it’s deliberately not changing the Bradys and sort of highlighting the certain timelessness that this and other old shows of the 70s had/have. Even when you watch the Brady characters as a modern watcher, you’re still loving them and rooting for them, admiring their upbeat attitudes and the fact that they aren’t fazed by their stark contrasting surroundings, they are completely content with who they are and what decade they’re stuck in in terms of values, music, and fashion. 

The costumes are brilliant and rather scarily prophetic when you consider that this was made in the 90s and the 70s fashions as well as 80s and now 20s fashions are coming back into style. This movie is actually pretty damned brilliant at the end of the day. 

Starring Shelley Long, Gary Cole, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Christine Taylor, Paul Sutera, Jennifer Elise Cox, Jesse Lee Soffer, Olivia Hack, Henriette Mantel, and Tim Matheson, A Very Brady Sequel is a bad, but still very clever and funny movie that’s filled with romance, “drama”, kidnapping, drug trips, sexual innuendos, and comedy. It also features some very interesting cameos including RuPaul, Zsa Zsa Gabor, David Spade, Rosie O’Donnell, and Barbara Eden. It’s terrible and brilliant at the same time.