Underappreciated: UHF

Underappreciated

Welcome to the seventh edition of "Underappreciated". The previous posts came in threes, first with the lower budget films, Joe Versus the Volcano, Equilibrium, and The Last Ride, and then later with the big budget films, Terminator Salvation, RoboCop (2014), and The Flash. But this one is a one-off. Once again, to be underappreciated is to have deserved better audience response, critical response, or both.

UHF (1989) | Comedy + Parody

This post was teased a few months ago right after I returned from hiatus when I discussed Weird: The Al Yankovic Story as part of SEVENSES: Biopics. If you do not want to take the time, I shared that "Weird Al" Yankovic's album Even Worse was the beginning of my fandom. His career prior and since was a series of ups and downs but one thing is for sure, he has proven he is not just a novelty like many artists whose genre is comedy and/or parody. However, one of those low points was his album just prior to Even Worse, 1986's Polka Party! I will concede that most of the choices of the songs he parodied were a bit "of the moment" but the comedy is still good. An exception is "Addicted to Spuds", great in both respects. The self-titled polka medley is, as always, up to standard, but it's the pastiches and original songs that set it apart including "Dog Eat Dog", "One of Those Days", and two of my all-time favorite "Weird Al" songs, the country style parody "Good Enough for Now" and the near-perfect Phil Spector pastiche "Christmas at Ground Zero". But I digress. "Weird Al" was not fully a stranger to film prior to UHF, including a cameo in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (he ended up cameoing in all three sequels) and the appearance of "Dare to Be Stupid" on the soundtrack for The Transformers: The Movie. With Even Worse as his best-selling album to date, the time was right to star in a movie, and UHF followed a year or so after.

Directed by frequent "Weird Al" collaborator Jay Levey, UHF is also written by Yankovic and Levey and it is the only starring role for "Weird Al" in film. The cast also includes Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Richards and David Bowe, with Gedde Watanabe, Billy Barty, Fran Drescher, and Emo Phillips in other supporting roles. The basic story is: George Newman (Yankovic) is a day-dreamer, trying to find his purpose in life, along with his friend, Bob Steckler (Bowe). After losing yet another dead-end job due to his overactive imagination, he is put in charge of Channel 62, a UHF television station his uncle won in a poker game. He and Bob soon find out it is on the brink of bankruptcy, with programming consisting of reruns of older shows. Snubbed by R.J. Fletcher (McCarthy), the owner of local network affiliate Channel 8, George sets out to make U62 a success by using his inventiveness to create original programming, while Bob primarily manages the business aspects of the station. The endeavor ensues.

If for nothing else, UHF is a great underdog story at its heart. Additionally, while a bit dated in approach now, George and his compatriots consistently and organically show kindness to and are friends with Noodles (Barty) and Stanley Spadowski (Richards), a little person and a mentally challenged adult, respectively, who have been traditionally marginalized by society. None of the humor is at their expense, which did occur in films prior to and contemporary with UHF. Clearly from the plot overview above, it is not a send-up of a single film, franchise or even a genre in which recognizable scenes are parodied, like Spaceballs (Star Wars primarily but other sci-fi), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (James Bond), or Not Another Teen Movie (mostly She's All That but multiple other "teen movies"). However, with the king of parody the main star, the expectation is at least some spoofing, right? The film does not disappoint. It begins with what turns out to be a daydream of George as Indiana Jones and a parody of the iconic opening to Raiders of the Lost Ark. As a few examples, Conan the Barbarian, Wheel of Fortune, and Rambo: First Blood Part II are skewered to varying levels along the way. The complete experience is a comedy that never takes itself too seriously with enough "Weird Al" branded humor and parody throughout that his fans are not disappointed.

The summer of 1989 had a very competitive film market, with the release of the highly anticipated sequels Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ghostbusters II, and Lethal Weapon 2. Other films released and destined for great success were Dead Poets Society, Batman, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Near year end even saw two films released in the top ten for gross, Back to the Future Part II and The Little Mermaid. According to Yankovic's audio commentary on the DVD, UHF was Orion Pictures' hope for saving the studio, which might explain its July release date. However, particularly after June and all the Bat-hype surrounding it, it should have been released at a time with less competition. On top of this, critical reviews were mixed, some of which were extremely negative. But it is truly a movie that belongs to be in the annals of spoof comedy along with some mentioned already, The Naked Gun series, Spaceballs, and the Austin Powers trilogy. But instead, it was another slump for the career of the great "Weird Al". Granted he bounced back again with Off the Deep End (quite possibly my favorite of his as a whole album) and granted the film has since become a cult classic, both he and his film deserved better.

Bonus blurb: UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff is just as underrated as the film itself. It works very well on the two levels, both as a soundtrack and simply a "Weird Al" album. As the latter, the parodies are top notch and do exactly what they should do, be timelessly funny and take a snapshot of enjoyable popular music of the time. The pastiches and originals are just as entertaining, particularly "Generic Blues" and "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota". An experiment of sorts, "The Hot Rocks Polka" fully consists of songs by a single band, that being the Rolling Stones, of course. (This is after "Jumping Jack Flash" was part of "Polkas on 45", the O.G. polka medley from his sophomore album, In 3-D.) It was so good, I regret he never did another one of a single artist, though "The Hamilton Polka" is in similar vein and "Bohemian Polka" from Alapalooza is a polka cover of the iconic Queen song. As a soundtrack, it does not disappoint either. It includes both songs and skits from the film, "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies" and "Let Me Be Your Hog" for the former and "Gandhi II" and "Spatula City" for the latter, as a sampling. Finally, I have to mention "Fun Zone", an original instrumental that shows off the musicianship of Yankovic. It was used as the theme song for the in-film show Stanley Spadowski's Clubhouse, but it's just a legitimately good piece of happy music. The UHF album did not sell well, and it deserved better.

Next up...BurtonVerse Theory: Revised!