This third move based on The Brady Bunch TV seems to have fallen off the radar spectacularly, which isn't surprising if you have seen it. It's an ultra cheap, poorly written quickie that fails to live up to the first two films in any way at all. Here, the Brady family become America's first family when Mike is elected president.
That plot aside, the most shocking thing is that apart from Gary Cole and Shelly Long reprising their roles as the parents, all the rest of the main cast (the six children and Alice) are now played by different actors. This means that the whole movie looks like an imposter, with 80% the original characters replaced but still trying to maintain the illusion that we are actually watching the same Brady family. The actors playing the six children seem to be making a brave stab at things, but its very obvious that rather then caricaturing the original TV show cast, they are trying to mimic the cast who were doing the caricatures in the first two Brady Bunch movies.
Most of the children are forgettable, but the biggest loss is not having Jennifer Elise Cox as Jan Brady, which was originally a demented re-working of the TV character, but here, the actress playing Jan simply mimics all the mannerisms of Jennifer's performance rather than playing Jan Brady at all. I would presume that the script is to blame here as she has all the same types of lines and is (presumably) told to grimace, pout, and walk with her hair swinging from side to side just as the character did in the other movies. Equally jarring is the replacement actress who plays Alice, who seem to contort her face wildly and jerk about like a robot in an attempt to become a doppelganger of Henriette Mantel's version. Marcia just seems annoying rather than foxy, Greg is like someone wearing a fancy-dress costume of Greg, and Cindy is totally unrecognisable. The only pair that come off unscathed are Bobby and Peter, and that's because, well, nobody is interested in Bobby and Peter! Even Shelley Long and Gary Cole seem to sleepwalk through their scripts. Shelly Long in particular seems to have lost any warmth she had, and the script gives neither of them any decent lines or jokes to work with.
The threadbare plot hardly seems to matter when you're watching such a creepy cast of bodysnatchers trying to resurrect an originally funny franchise. No wonder it sank without a trace. I would advise you not to spend money on this one, and only watch if you have a morbid curiosity.
That plot aside, the most shocking thing is that apart from Gary Cole and Shelly Long reprising their roles as the parents, all the rest of the main cast (the six children and Alice) are now played by different actors. This means that the whole movie looks like an imposter, with 80% the original characters replaced but still trying to maintain the illusion that we are actually watching the same Brady family. The actors playing the six children seem to be making a brave stab at things, but its very obvious that rather then caricaturing the original TV show cast, they are trying to mimic the cast who were doing the caricatures in the first two Brady Bunch movies.
Most of the children are forgettable, but the biggest loss is not having Jennifer Elise Cox as Jan Brady, which was originally a demented re-working of the TV character, but here, the actress playing Jan simply mimics all the mannerisms of Jennifer's performance rather than playing Jan Brady at all. I would presume that the script is to blame here as she has all the same types of lines and is (presumably) told to grimace, pout, and walk with her hair swinging from side to side just as the character did in the other movies. Equally jarring is the replacement actress who plays Alice, who seem to contort her face wildly and jerk about like a robot in an attempt to become a doppelganger of Henriette Mantel's version. Marcia just seems annoying rather than foxy, Greg is like someone wearing a fancy-dress costume of Greg, and Cindy is totally unrecognisable. The only pair that come off unscathed are Bobby and Peter, and that's because, well, nobody is interested in Bobby and Peter! Even Shelley Long and Gary Cole seem to sleepwalk through their scripts. Shelly Long in particular seems to have lost any warmth she had, and the script gives neither of them any decent lines or jokes to work with.
The threadbare plot hardly seems to matter when you're watching such a creepy cast of bodysnatchers trying to resurrect an originally funny franchise. No wonder it sank without a trace. I would advise you not to spend money on this one, and only watch if you have a morbid curiosity.