Review of Good Burger (1997) by Christopher H — 16 Sep 2012

I put his movie in expecting it to be a film from my childhood that will be terrible in retrospect. Imagine my surprise when watching it, that I found out that 'Good Burger' is a nostalgic flick from my childhood that still holds up rather well when taken on it's own merits. This film is an adaptation of a skit from the SNL-esque Nickelodeon show 'All-That'. I say adaptation because it is more of a Kenan and Kel film with the Good Burger skit providing the setting.

The plot is nothing too special. It is your typical suburban adventure with Good Burger trying to stay in business with the villainous Mondo Burger. I will not mince words, this movie is STUPID. The gags are as silly as they can be, the plot is very improbable and most of the humor stems from the idiotic antics of the comic duo of Kenan and Kel. However, it's all in good clean fun. Kids will for sure be enthralled while adults may find themselves giggling at times if they accept the films brand of silliness.

Kel Mitchell plays the idiotic but thoughtful character Ed very well and manages to keep him charmingly funny for most of the film's 90 minute runtime. That's pretty impressive considering it could have been a very annoying one-note performance since this movie is based on a one-joke comedy skit. The interactions between the talented comic duo of Kel and his co-star Kenan reminded me why I loved them in the first place. Plus there is plenty of surprising cameo's in this movie like the goofy dressed Sinbad to Shaquille O'Neal.

While the jokes can be pretty funny if taken on their own juvenile way, the film does start to run out of comedic steam during the second half. The movie is still overall fun but some of the running gags start to wear thin. Plus if you find yourself annoyed by Kel's character, then you might as well turn off the film.

Overall, 'Good Burger' is a decent little family flick that provides enough laughs for everybody. Not bad for director Brian Robbins, who went on to kill Eddie Murphy's career with 'Norbit', 'Meet Dave', and 'A Thousand Words'.