Critic's Grade: B+

Perhaps the spoof to end all spoofs, "The Brady Bunch Movie" pokes gleeful fun at the 1970's family show in the most inspired of ways. A quartet of writers and director Betty Thomas keep the original fashions, family values, and quirks of the series, all the while placing them in the 1990's for a contrast that is highly amusing in all the right ways. The family is still going through those same woeful trials: parents Mike and Carol are trying to instill in Cindy the ills of tattling; Greg is going through his "Johnny Bravo" days; Marcia ends up with a nose the size of a melon; Peter's puberty is still riding strong; Bobby's status as school safety monitor earns him no respect; and Jan, poor Jan, has only one thing on her mind: "Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!"

The movie's recollection of these various events from the multitude of episodes is only a drop in the vast ocean of fun that the screenplay has. You could almost do without the subplot involving the threat to the Bradys of losing their house with the Astroturf lawn, but that's pretty much beside the point anyway when you're having so much fun watching Jan's wig experiment go awry, or Alice's blink-and-miss-it appearance in an S&M outfit. The cast works wonders with this material, be it Shelley Long and Gary Cole at the patriarchs, Christine Taylor's turn as Marcia, or Jennifer Elise Cox's brilliantly conceived Jan, whose dopiness and lovable nature are so catchy that the movie is worth it just for her scenes. Add to this delightful mix some kitschy musical numbers that are as groovy today as they were nearly many years ago, and appearances by several "Brady Bunch" alumni, and you have what is simply one of the funniest comedies to ever span three decades of jeans and bell-bottoms, Monkees and heavy metal.

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