Strange Brew (1983)

Review by All Movie Guide
The performers are the key to this film's success. Moranis and Thomas have a fantastic chemistry. One gets the sense that much of the material was improvised, but the two have been doing this so long that they don't step on each other's lines. There is a respect between the two that translates into a believable sibling relationship on the screen. Their grounded-in-reality interaction helps sell the more wild jokes in the film (Bob drinking an entire vat of beer, their dog Hosehead flying, and the boys' survival techniques when trapped in their van at the bottom of a lake). The casting in the film is inspired. Paul Dooley is a fine comic actor, Mel Blanc provides the voice for Mr. McKenzie, and as the bad guy threatening to take over the world with beer, Max von Sydow chews scenery in his own intense, imploding style. The characters of Bob and Doug McKenzie were created by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas while they were working on SCTV. The two actors would don the costumes late at night after all of the other taping had been completed. They would improvise two-minute conversations between the characters about a given topic. While 25 or so of them would be taped at each session, only one or two from every batch were good enough to put on the air. Strange Brew is certainly not perfect; however, it is well crafted, lovingly performed, and chock full of jokes ranging from the ridiculous (the aftermath from drinking four-month-old chocolate milk) to the sublime (their fantastic two-minute conversation that plays over the closing credits). With Strange Brew, Moranis and Thomas pull off something that very few gifted sketch comics have. They created a funny 91-minute movie out of material that was never supposed to last longer than two. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide