Go to the "A Very Brady Sequel" Page

Oh, Those Bubbly Bradys!

"A Very Brady Sequel," like its campy predecessor, gleefully spoofs the polyester values of that bubbly '70s sitcom. Already dated in their heyday, the Bradys, with their double-knit fashions and groovy lingo, seem even sillier when set against the harsher realities of the '90s, whether in real life or on the tube. While the rest of the world moved on, the Bradys have been trapped in the time warp of reruns. They are plastic relics of an era that predated dysfunctional families and single-parent households. Even the wistful "Wonder Years" is jaded by comparison, not to mention "Grace Under Fire" or "Married . . . With Children."

Though the anti-war, minority and women's rights movements threatened them with extinction, "The Brady Bunch" remained entirely clueless. They still are.

In the new film, Carol (Shelley Long) and Mike Brady (Gary Cole) receive an unexpected visit from her first husband, Roy (Tim Matheson), an archaeologist presumed drowned at sea. Roy, who readily fools the guileless couple, is really an impostor after a valuable antiquity the real Roy sent home before his ship went down. The plot hinges on whether Roy will find the rare piece before the Bradys get wise to him.

There's little danger of that happening too soon, for the Bradys are as oblivious to Roy's ruse as Ned Flanders and family are to Homer Simpson's equally transparent schemes. Matheson is a deft foil for the fatuous clan, which is skillfully played by all hands.

The rivalry between Jan (Jennifer Elise Cox) and her older sister, Marcia (Christine Taylor), is reprised here, along with a new kink in the relationship between Marcia and her oldest stepbrother, Greg (Christopher Daniel Barnes). Peter (Paul Sutera), the middle brother, idolizes the adventurous Roy, while Cindy (Olivia Hack), the one with the lisp, and Peter are the first to suspect him of malfeasance.

Henriette Mantel, a dead ringer for the Bradys' original housekeeper, rounds out the family as Alice, whose corny jokes always bring a chorus of titters and guffaws. Like Mike's meandering homilies, only the Bradys get them. Of course, the same can be said for some of the screenwriters' more desperate attempts to milk more jokes from this previously used material.

Double-entendres and references to other televised folklore are worth a few snickers, but the best moments feature brief cameos from such small-screen regulars as Richard Belzer parodying his "Homicide" role. Mike Brady is scandalized both by the cop's hostile manner and his coarse language. The cinematographer ups the comic ante by shooting the scene in the twitchy style pioneered by the TV series.

In keeping with "The Brady Bunch Movie," the sequel is basically a family reunion to which the show's fans have been invited. Though it's not as fresh or assured as the first film, it delivers the "very" Bradyness as promised. With a "Leave It to Beaver" movie now in development, studios will be looking closely at how this film fares. Can it be long before "C-SPAN: The Movie"?

A Very Brady Sequel is rated PG-13 for profanity.