Veteran music parodist 'Weird' Al Yankovic makes his feature debut with this engagingly silly comedy. Granted, not all of its jokes were terribly funny for this viewer, but there were some that worked quite well. In his inimitable style, 'Weird' Al sends up TV programming, music videos (naturally), movies, movie trailers, and commercials. The story (Al co-wrote with director Jay Levey, a frequent collaborator) relies on that comfortable old device of a misfit making good.
Al plays George Newman, a fairly immature man who can't hold down a job because of his daydreaming and penchant for thinking up goofy ideas. Well, finally, as luck would have it, he finds an outlet for his creativity. His uncle Harvey (Stanley Brock) comes into possession of a nothing UHF TV station, and George is hired as a manager. Things get off to a rough start, but take off once George decides to put dim witted but well intentioned and lovable janitor Stanley Spadowski (Michael Richards) on the air.
"UHF" does travel far on Als' likability and irreverent sense of humour. Among the programming that he devises are parodies of Phil Donahue like shows ('Talk Time') and game shows ('Wheel of Fish'). For this viewer, the brightest moments include the opening "Raiders of the Lost Ark" spoof, the "Conan the Librarian" sequence ("Don't you know the Dewey decimal system?"), and the extended mocking of Sylvester Stallones' "Rambo" movies (with Als' body makeup created by the guys at KNB).
It also benefits from a strong villain, in this case Kevin McCarthy, who's perfect as nasty and domineering network affiliate boss R.J. Fletcher. The supporting cast features a rich variety of familiar faces in addition to those already mentioned: Victoria Jackson as Als' fed-up girlfriend, soap opera veteran Anthony Geary in an interesting oddball part, and the late Trinidad Silva (to whom the movie is dedicated) as an unconventional wildlife program host, as well as Gedde Watanabe, Billy Barty, John Paragon, Fran Drescher, Sue Ane Langdon, and David Proval. Director Levey appears uncredited as Gandhi. One of the biggest laughs in "UHF" comes from comedian Emo Philips, as the unlikely shop teacher Joe Earley.
Good fun overall, and guaranteed to send its fans away with smiles on their faces. As a bonus, Als' rocking theme song is pretty catchy.
Seven out of 10.
Al plays George Newman, a fairly immature man who can't hold down a job because of his daydreaming and penchant for thinking up goofy ideas. Well, finally, as luck would have it, he finds an outlet for his creativity. His uncle Harvey (Stanley Brock) comes into possession of a nothing UHF TV station, and George is hired as a manager. Things get off to a rough start, but take off once George decides to put dim witted but well intentioned and lovable janitor Stanley Spadowski (Michael Richards) on the air.
"UHF" does travel far on Als' likability and irreverent sense of humour. Among the programming that he devises are parodies of Phil Donahue like shows ('Talk Time') and game shows ('Wheel of Fish'). For this viewer, the brightest moments include the opening "Raiders of the Lost Ark" spoof, the "Conan the Librarian" sequence ("Don't you know the Dewey decimal system?"), and the extended mocking of Sylvester Stallones' "Rambo" movies (with Als' body makeup created by the guys at KNB).
It also benefits from a strong villain, in this case Kevin McCarthy, who's perfect as nasty and domineering network affiliate boss R.J. Fletcher. The supporting cast features a rich variety of familiar faces in addition to those already mentioned: Victoria Jackson as Als' fed-up girlfriend, soap opera veteran Anthony Geary in an interesting oddball part, and the late Trinidad Silva (to whom the movie is dedicated) as an unconventional wildlife program host, as well as Gedde Watanabe, Billy Barty, John Paragon, Fran Drescher, Sue Ane Langdon, and David Proval. Director Levey appears uncredited as Gandhi. One of the biggest laughs in "UHF" comes from comedian Emo Philips, as the unlikely shop teacher Joe Earley.
Good fun overall, and guaranteed to send its fans away with smiles on their faces. As a bonus, Als' rocking theme song is pretty catchy.
Seven out of 10.