Product Details

• Actors: Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, Scott Thompson
• Directors: Kelly Makin
• Writers: Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, Scott Thompson, Norm Hiscock
• Producers: Barnaby Thompson, David Steinberg
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: July 22, 1997
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (119 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304125941
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,275 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Moviegoers never caught on to its brilliance, but Brain Candy is a smart, outrageously inventive vehicle for Canada's most irreverent comedy troupe. The subtly subversive plot is about society's ongoing search for the perfect "happy drug," and the Kids inhabit a multitude of costumes and characters as they celebrate--and lament--the invention of "Gleemonex," the ultimate antidepressant, which locks users into their happiest memories... and subsequently renders them comatose. No worries for the Roritor Chemical Company; they don't care much about side effects! With rampant riffs on heavy-metal doomsayers, closeted gay husbands (resulting in Scott Thompson's hilarious coming-out musical), blissed-out grandmothers, and all varieties of corporate greed-mongers, Brain Candy is almost too hip for its own good, combining Pythonesque ingenuity with cutting social satire. As a comedic experiment it's hit-and-miss, but with the cross-dressing Kids running the show, it's likely to leave you laughing out loud. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

After five years on television, the great cross-dressing Canadian troupe gets its own movie and runs with it, to greater effect than such recent Lorne Michaels protégés as Chris Farley and Adam Sandler have. The plot, about a Prozac-like pill that can make everyone happy, allows the five sketchmeisters to populate the screen in a multiple-role heaven that would stir Alec Guinness's heart. Not all of the pieces work, but a few are truly inspired. (Scott Thompson's out-of-the-closet number-an homage to Gene Kelly, shot in Stanley Donen color and complete with suburban lawn sprinklers-is a real jaw-dropper.) The Kids haven't yet mastered the ebb-and-flow rhythms of Monty Python, but, more often than not, they make their funny points. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Monty Python on xanex, August 5, 2002

By 

T. A. Wauldron "iamtoddicus" (Magalia, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kids in the Hall - Brain Candy (DVD)

Dear readers, if you have never seen the Kids In The Hall series, you will not understand the nuances and brilliance of Brain Candy. If you have, you will feel like you have discovered the Holy Grail.

Synopsis: researchers discover a pill to make everybody happy, and suffer the consequences. The great part, the Kids play all the parts, and there are little skits within the big picture.

If you are expecting slapstick, forget it, this is sophisticated humor. The absurd rules. THIS is what the Kids are best at, and this is the best I have seen. From Canadian police trampled by people fleeing a public rest room, to catatonic test subjects, this film rocks. Kudos to Dave Foley, who made it big with NewsRadio (man do I hope they release that series on DVD). He plays the stright man the whole way through, and actually gets the meatiest parts. The rest wear dresses, but look pretty good....

If you are a Welcome to Woop Woop fan, or a Monty Python fan, if you can find this movie, BUY IT!! This is a watch and watch again movie.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great movie., July 2, 2004

By 

R. Nevitt (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kids in the Hall - Brain Candy (DVD)

To quote a New York Times reviewer:

"I was privy to an early test screening of this, and it was weirder and better than the final product. Even the final, watered-down version beats the hell out of most safe so-called comedies, though."

I had a friend that also got to see the "original ending" which he claims was among the funniest things he had ever seen in his life. I personally thought the movie was great, and have enjoyed it a couple of times on DVD. I really think though that the DVD could have benefited from having the alternate ending and aditional footage added back in.

As I understand it though, Paramount executives don't care about anything but patting each other on the back while their studio slips into oblivion. They released the DVD of Clue with a mono soundtrack. Look at how Paramount destroyed their most profitable cash cow "Star Trek." So the chances of us getting to see that alternate ending of Brain Candy is darn near slim to none. It really is unfortunate... it sounds fantastic.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most Well-Written and Talented Movie I've Ever Seen!, February 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Kids in the Hall - Brain Candy (DVD)

Like many of the past reviews have said, it takes a certain mindset to enjoy this movie, but once you do get into it, you'll realize that it is one of the most well-written movies released in a very long time. Even though some Kids in the Hall fans were unimpressed with this movie, to really examine it and look at the making of this movie, you can't deny that these guys have serious talent! To play over 40 different characters, and do it well, and write it to where one character played by someone doesn't interact with another character played by the same person took a lot of hard work and creativity. What I like most about this movie are the little things within it that you wouldn't pick up the first couple times. I've seen it at least 30 times ande every time, I pick up something new I never noticed before. The scuba diver, the posters in the background, certain connections that are spanned apart from each other, etc. The way they portray certain characters, like the CEO and his team members, are so realistic that you have to laugh at it even more because you know there's people just like that. They make fun of the culture by playing it realistic. In summary, it is a movie to be watched many times on end. It is a very dialogue and character based movie ("I'm your nightmare, Mister!", "You're not getting dollar one, you ugly man!")...okay you just have to see the movie. But the more you are interested in psychology, the more you will enjoy this movie.