Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy (1996): Dir: Kelly Makin / Cast: Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, Scott Thompson, Bruce McCulloch, Dave Foley: Clever comedy about the unsatisfactory lives we lead. Title suggests either physical or mental garbage we intake to give the illusion of wholeness. A small orange pill called Gleemonex is invented to cure depression but side affects exist. An angry musician rages against society but after taking Gleemonex he makes a video called "Happiness Pie." A husband who masturbates to gay porn cannot face the fact that he is gay. He pops the Gleemonex and marches into the street singing, "I'm Gay!" Vulgarity is outlined with facts one may not acknowledge about themselves. Interesting concept with directing by Kelly Makin. David Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson plays multiple roles as the famous Kids in the Hall troop. McDonald plays scientist Chris Cooper who invents the drug after his father's suicide. He is met with fame as well as the desire to correct the side affects. McKinney plays villain Don Roritor as a somewhat Steve Martin impression. He forces the drug and will be defeated by it. Scott Thompson plays two hilarious roles as gay husband and senile lady. Dave Foley is also featured as an assistant whose greatest dream is urinating in his boss's coffee. Colorful visuals parallel artificial solutions. Score: 9 / 10

A 1 because there's no way I can rate this a minus 10. Though alive I was figuratively turning over in my grave every time someone likened this 'thing' to a Monty Python show or movie. The Python writers/performers were all brilliant and could skewer society and culture either with a broadsword or a stiletto. These dopes, less talented than Moe, Larry and Curly, can be summed up with one word and that word is "unsubtle". If there was a god of comedy, bolts of lighting would fry the people for uttering the heresy of comparing them to Python. Anything this amateurish and unfunny makes me either reach for my pistol, walk rapidly to the exit or push the off button on the remote in an excessively heavy manner. (Actually I disliked this movie so much I wanted to do all three things simultaneously.) 'Kids' is the absolute bottom of the comedic barrel and could be the worst comedy in motion picture history (maybe there is a god after all because some Force has intervened and determined that they will never make another movie and so thank you Jesus, thank you Muhammed, thank you Vishnu, thank you Buddha!).

"It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry, and maybe - just maybe - you'll learn something about yourself..." ...Seriously!This movie just blew me away on so many levels. First level: Being a longtime fan of the Kids and getting to see many familiar characters once again was a gas. Not to mention some of the new ones they cooked up for the film. Second level: As an exercise in the absurd (Cancer Boy, the gay guy coming out in a big neighbourhood production number, the German psychiatrist). Next level: Satire and stereotype (the CEO screaming, "MY... EMPIRE... IS... CRUUUMMMMBLINNGG!", the punk rocker, the talkshow hostess). Yet another level: Makes a HUGE statement about the corporate-media-industrial complex and its usurpation of contemporary culture and mores. And so on, and so on...Finally, the film, while purporting to be a comedy masking itself as a tragedy (or is it the other way round?) and beneath that pretending to send a negative message about the human condition (like the cabbie says, "This is not a happy story"), manages to have a positive message as well.This movie is an enigma. And as such it's basically indescribable: It'll move you in about six different directions at once. And it might even make you think about a few things.If you've never seen it, get out and rent the bloody thing already.

Certainly one of the few excellent films that I have seen David Foley in. I saw this, quite by chance, on television and I was amazed that I had not even heard of a film this good. It is several years since I saw it, and 8 since it was made, but this is truly worth seeing.The plot is fairly run-of-the-mill comedic insanity, but the characters are what truly makes this so fun. The writing is very very good and I think complaints of bad language are bizarre in the context of this movie, because if you don't like the language how are you going to enjoy the sentiment...One character's key fantasy is being "sent in" to bugger enemy soldiers on maneouvres.My favourite scene is the brainstorming session with the Ultra-Cool A**hole Advertising Executive who comes up with their slogan.