The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew (1983)

Beer, backbacon, and smokes eh? SCTV standards, Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis manage to put together a ridiculous 90-minute film based on their TV comedy routine. Impressively, they pull it off remarkably well. Watching a 20+ year-old comedy can sometimes be dull as many of the jokes are temporally referenced and, if the routines were successful and original then, you've seen it many times over since by copycat comedians.

Bob and Doug put together a coherent, well scripted and well acted absurd comedy. One of the cleverest things in the film is how it goes from real movie to behind the scenes to a mock-movie to real life to behind the scenes again. The one-liners are still gut busting (I could still remember after 15 years Bob saying "I gotta take a leak so bad I can taste it."). The corny parts of the movie aren't drawn out (as in Borat for instance) and they serve their purpose of filling out the story. They are even able to take some of the corny parts and make them really funny such as the scene where the McKenzie brothers are separated for the first time. It is actually quite touching moment, but so hilarious too.

The fun thing about this movie is the fact that it's set in Canada. We don't get a lot of those as far as comedies. We can feel connected to the characters that much more with icons such as the CN Tower, hockey stickers/cards, tuques, beer, Canadian Courts, and "eh?". The film was shot mostly at various locations in Ontario, but also in Prince George, BC.

The film is tremendously politically incorrect (not intentional like Borat). There is the Indian stereotype. There are the mental patients. Things haven't changed that much I guess. The acting by the side characters isn't too impressive either, but that was the case with most 80's comedies.

IMDB