Kids in the Hall: Same Guys, New Dresses (2001)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Dave Foley

Genre:

Comedy | Documentary

Plot:

A behind the scenes look at the comedy troupe, The Kids In The Hall's 1999-2000 reunion tour.

Cast

Dave Foley	...	Himself / Various
Bruce McCulloch	...	Himself / Various
Kevin McDonald	...	Himself / Various
Mark McKinney	...	Himself / Various
Scott Thompson	...	Himself / Various
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Paul Bellini	...	Himself
Conan O'Brien	...	Himself
Andy Richter	...	Himself
Max Weinberg	...	Himself

Runtime:

USA:85 min | USA:93 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Trivia:

In the beginning scene outside the theatre, Buzz Osbourne (King Buzzo), lead signer and guitarist of the band Melvins, can be seen in line.

Movie Connections:

Spin off from "The Kids in the Hall" (1988)

Mostly for fans...

I really love the Kids in the Hall, but this movie bugged me for a few reasons.

First, it was very disjointed. I really had a tough time getting a sense of where they were at any moment. For instance, they're a good 20 minutes in, and then they go back to the first day of rehearsals to tell the Scott/robot dog story. If that was going to be a central storyline, why wasn't it introduced at the beginning?

Second, speaking of Scott, I thought the movie focused a tad too much on Scott's temper tantrums and such. I really wanted to get a sense of how all of the members of the troupe interacted. I found a lot out about Scott, but the other members, particularly Bruce, seemed to get short shrift.

Third, I really wanted to see some more of the live shows. Aside from the opening and closing sketch, what was presented was usually cut off midway through. Maybe if there was less of, say, moments like the street performer's endless version of "Tainted Love," we could have had it. (Another note about the performances: The camera switching was very disconcerting. I know they want to make it visually interesting, but this ain't rock and roll. The viewer needs to be able to concentrate on the characters, and the changing camera angles really interfere with that.)

Those are my complaints. Overall, though, I enjoyed the movie. But then again, I'm a fan.

Serious bonus points for the DVD commentary. It's pretty much funny throughout, with Mark poking fun at his weight, and all of the Kids making fun of each other. There's also a slew of celebrity cameos on the commentary, which are occasionally very funny. Mike Myers gives a phoned-in effort, and South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker hover somewhere between funny and irritating, but Andy Richter and Jason Priestly are very entertaining.