Review of UHF (1989) by Troy F — 07 Aug 2014

I've usually been a moderate fan of Weird Al's stuff, and no matter how you see him, be that he's hilarious or occasionally obnoxious, he's practically a comic genius in parodying music.

So going into UHF, I wasn't sure if it would be that funny. It could've been the kind of "Okay, he's funny when he writes parody songs, but falls flat when stretching out his jokes in a feature film" sort of deal.

Quite the opposite indeed, as Weird Al carried his comic talents into this feature with success. I haven't laughed as much with any film in a while as I did with this one. It's really just a story of Weird Al as a down-on-luck guy saving a low brow TV station and making friends while also making enemies with other rival networks.

But of course, it's the references and mockery of television culture, films, and plot cliches and pure randomness that makes this film a hilarious blast. Weird Al is a person that isn't afraid to border on the strange and the controversial, which all the more makes the movie funny than most commercial comedies.

Some jokes are obviously dated, but enough of the film certainly holds up that anyone could enjoy this.