UHF

Starring: 'Weird Al' Yankovic, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Richards, David Bowe, Stanley Brock, Anthony Geary, Trinidad Siva, Gedde Watanabe, Fran Drescher, John Paragon
Directed by: Jay Levey
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy
1989

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An aimless man ('Weird Al' Yankovic) becomes the manager of a struggling local television station.

Review:

Tim: Over the years, I'd occasionally hear good things about UHF. It took me quite a long time to actually get around to seeing it. And, I have to say, I don't really see what the fuss was about. Sure, there might be an occasionally decent moment, but as a whole, the film is never better than okay. This is a movie whose reputation feels a bit overrated. I never disliked the movie, I just didn't care much at all.

On the plus side, 'Weird Al' Yankovic brings a ton of energy to the role. He's not exactly a good actor, but you can tell he's comfortable in front of the camera. He attacks everything with glee, almost as if he can't believe his good fortune to be able to star in a movie. It sort of makes sense, the guy is accomplished as parodies of songs, why not extend that to movies? The movie itself has a lot of flaws, but Yankovic's enthusiasm is contagious. It's genuinely fun to watch him play this role with such abandon. He puts everything he has into the role. His acting talent isn't enough for him to pull it off, but his effort was absolutely there.

The movie itself is a bit of a mess. Yankovic's character is a bit lost, drifting through life. When a series of unlikely events leads him to managing a local television station, he might finally have found his calling. From there, it goes about as you might expect- he works to turn the station's ratings around, makes eccentric friends along the way, and crosses the bad guys, who are irredeemable villains who say and do bad guy things. It's all a bit predictable. While there was definitely time and attention poured into the different film parodies, the structure of the story feels like an afterthought. For this reason, I never really cared about the characters or their misadventures. The story is barely there, just hanging on to move to the next gag. It's something we've seen many times before- in poor comedies.

In the supporting cast, no one brings the same energy as Yankovic. Michael Richards is memorable for his role, although it's definitely uncomfortable to watch in today's world. I've never been a big Richards fan anyway, and his performance left me feeling cold. Victoria Jackson was pretty bad. Kevin McCarthy was fine, but his performance often strays too over-the-top. Fran Drescher adds surprisingly little. Really, the cast as a whole is absolutely subpar. They didn't attract great talent to this project.

The movie parodies are fine. The Raiders of the Lost Ark parody is well done- looks like a decent amount of the budget was put into that one. Gandhi II was absurd, offensive, and definitely a highlight. I chuckled a bit at Conan the Librarian, although it wasn't especially funny. There's a ton of other throwaway gags and references to other movies, but they weren't humorous or memorable. For example, Yankovic's character makes a mountain out of mashed potatoes and says a line from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I fail to see how referencing another movie in a way that doesn't move the plot forward helps the movie at all? As a viewer, you think, "Hm. I get that reference" and then move on. It's not clever, it's not funny. That's a good summation of this movie as a whole.

Now, I get that 'Weird Al' Yankovic fans liked this movie and it has a cult following that claims the movie simply got lost in the summer of 1989 (which was indeed filled with landmark films). However, despite Orion's positive test screenings, the movie just isn't that good. That's why it failed at the box office. More power to those vocal proponents of this film, but it's yet another subpar parody film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6



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