THE BRADY BUNCH IN THE WHITE HOUSE
US, 2002, 88 minutes, Colour.
Shelley Long, Gary Cole, Chad Doreck, Autumn Reeser, Ashley Drane, Saul Rubinek, Tannis Burnett, Reagan Pasternak.
Directed by Neal Israel.
This film has to be seen to be believed – or disbelieved. Internet bloggers have been fierce in their condemnation. However, it is just possible that they did not get the jokes. Maybe Americans would have taken it far more seriously than was intended – and audiences outside the US might see the funny side of it.
The film was released in the second year of George W. Bush’s presidency. At times, some of the audiences will be thinking of the various gaffes in behaviour and speech made by President Bush. However, audiences looking at the film during President Trump’s administration may be thinking…
The Brady Bunch was a popular television series beginning in 1969, with Robert Reed and Florence Henderson. It was in line with the “wholesome� family television series popular in this era – Father Knows Best…. The franchise was revived in a feature film in 1995 with Gary Cole and Shelley Long as the parents. It was quite popular – hence this sequel.
By the beginning of the 21st-century, the plot and the dialogue are meant to be spoofs. Mike Brady is too good to be true, principled, edifying. Carol Brady is absolutely loyal and loving. They do have an odd bunch of children, especially the narcissistic Marcia, the troubled (with interior voices and imagining the voice from the port of Abraham Lincoln in the White House) Jan. Greg has an eye for the girls – and, in fact, there is quite some sexual innuendo in this film.
Bobby finds a lottery ticket and, while the family immediately plan on how to use the money, Mike is insistent that the owner of the ticket be found. It turns out that is a criminal discovering this as he walked to the gallows. However, the Bradys make a big impression with their honesty and the President, denying crooked deals, wants to honour them and exploit them. With the result, the exposure of the President, Mike becoming president and deciding that Carol should be VP as well as First Lady.
There is comedy in the settling into the White House, the pastel colours and old-fashioned clothes they wear, the declarations in all honesty, having cabinet meetings to solve problems about the children’s discipline, Alice taking over the menu and cooking varieties of meatloaf to the chef’s horror. The members of Congress are gobsmacked at first but then support the President and his wife.
However, there is a villain, the Speaker of the house played by Saul Rubinek with his Machiavellian assistant, Veronica, played by Reagan Pasternak. She infiltrates the family, getting the secrets, taping them, planning their exposure so that the Speaker will become president and she the First Lady.
Ultimately, they overplay their hand. One of Greg’s papers is put in a capsule for Mars instead of the genuine documents – but they are seen by the littlest daughter who, in the bunker where they have been locked for safety, reveals all. Alice smashes the window of the bunker, out they come and explain everything to the American public.
Very silly but, underlying the silliness, poking fun at ingenuously upright Americans and their stances.
