Like its lively predecessor,
The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), this mild comic send-up takes its characters and situations from the popular family sitcom of the 1970s,
The Brady Bunch. Set in the '90s, it is filled with in-joke references to American pop culture. However, one need not be familiar with the original series in order to enjoy this film. Bad guy Trevor Thomas (
Tim Matheson) is posing as supermom Carol Brady's long-dead first husband Roy Martin. He claims to have been amnesiac and made unrecognizable by plastic surgery after suffering disfiguring injuries, but in truth, he is on the hunt for a very valuable artifact, an ancient Chinese horse carving which Roy sent to his family from the field. Because of the family's sheer niceness, they could never imagine such deception, and husband Mike Brady (
Gary Cole) welcomes him into their midst. This causes Roy no end of frustration, as not only must he live with this incredibly sweet and cheerful family while he searches for the carving, but he must endure having his ill-tempered sarcastic jibes go completely unrecognized. When Carol (
Shelley Long) is kidnapped, the whole family goes a-hunting. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide