A Very Brady Sequel

A Very Brady Sequel is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Arlene Sanford (in her feature film directorial debut), with a screenplay by Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan, James Berg and Stan Zimmerman, and starring Shelley Long, Gary Cole and Tim Matheson. It also features cameos from RuPaul, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Rosie O' Donnell, Barbara Eden, David Spade, and Richard Belzer. Sequel to The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), it followed its predecessor by placing the 1970s Brady Bunch family in a contemporary 1990s setting, where much of the humor is derived from the resulting culture clash and the utter lack of awareness they show toward their relatively unusual lifestyle.

A Very Brady Sequel
Theatrical release poster
Directed byArlene Sanford
Produced bySherwood Schwartz
Lloyd J. Schwartz
Alan Ladd, Jr.
Screenplay byHarry Elfont
Deborah Kaplan
James Berg
Stan Zimmerman
Story byHarry Elfont
Deborah Kaplan
Based onThe Brady Bunch
by Sherwood Schwartz
Starring
Music byGuy Moon
CinematographyMac Ahlberg
Edited byAnita Brandt-Burgoyne
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • August 23, 1996 (1996-08-23)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15 million[1]
Box office$21.4 million[1]

A Very Brady Sequel was released on August 23, 1996. The film received mixed reviews and earned less than half of what The Brady Bunch Movie did at the box office. A second sequel, the made-for-television feature The Brady Bunch in the White House, aired in November 2002.

Plot

One evening, a man claiming to be Carol's long-lost first husband, Roy Martin, shows up at the suburban Brady residence. The Bradys believe his story about suffering from amnesia and having plastic surgery after being injured. Mike has been planning a second wedding/renewal of vows for himself and Carol, for an anniversary present without her knowing, although Roy's arrival throws a monkey wrench into things. Throughout Roy's stay, he is openly hostile to them, his sarcasm and insults completely going over their heads. Peter, who is trying to decide what career path to choose, starts idolizing and emulating Roy, which frequently gets him in trouble at the architect firm where Mike works.

Greg and Marcia both want to move out of their shared rooms and when neither wants to back down, they have to share the attic together. When Roy's arrival suggests that Carol and Mike might not be married, Greg and Marcia believe that they are technically not related. This leads them to realize they are in love with each other, but try to hide it from one another throughout their time together.

Bobby and Cindy start a "Detective Agency" hunting down her missing doll and stumble upon Roy's true intentions. He is actually a con man named Trevor Thomas and is there to steal a familiar horse statue that is actually a $20 million dollar ancient artifact. When they reveal his plans, he kidnaps Carol and takes her and the artifact to Dr. Whitehead, a buyer in Hawaii. The remaining Brady family travels to Hawaii to save her and foil his plans. Trevor is revealed to have been responsible for the boating accident that led to the disappearance of Dr. Whitehead's son Gilligan and Carol's first husband, a professor, and, in Dr. Whitehead's words "The Minnow is lost". Trevor attempts to hold Dr. Whitehead and Carol at gunpoint, but Mike arrives just in time to intervene, and Trevor is arrested and taken to jail. Jan, who made up a pretend boyfriend named George Glass in order to make herself seem more popular, meets a real boy named George Glass during the family's trip to Hawaii, and they become a couple.

As Mike and Carol renew their vows in a ceremony held at their home, both Greg and Marcia finally cave in from their hidden romance after chatting, they started sharing one last on-screen kiss together, their first kiss was during the trips to Hawaii where Marcia rescued Greg from drowning in a surfing accident by simply giving him two breaths, both moments ended on very awkward vibes between the two much older step-siblings. Before this, Marcia agrees to let Greg have the attic to himself, until he goes to college.

The story ends with a genie named Jeannie who arrives at the wedding claiming to be Mike's wife, right after being the one to catch the tossed bouquet.

Cast

The film featured cameo appearances from RuPaul (reprising his role as Mrs. Cummings from the first film), Zsa Zsa Gabor (in her last screen role), Rosie O'Donnell, Barbara Eden (reprising her role as Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie), David Spade, and Richard Belzer.

Release

Box office

A Very Brady Sequel was released in theaters on August 23, 1996. The film grossed $7.1 million on its opening weekend, debuting on 2,147 screens.[1] Gross sales are estimated at $21.4 million.[1]

Home media

A Very Brady Sequel was released by Paramount Home Video on VHS on February 11, 1997. It was released on DVD June 10, 2003 and April 25, 2017. The film has also been released digitally on Google Play.[2]

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a score of 53% based on reviews from 34 critics.[3] Roger Ebert judged that while it was not an outstanding film, it was noticeably better than its predecessor. He elaborated that it addressed his chief criticism of the original by showing more of the contemporary world the Bradys live in and finding humor in the contrast between their innocence and the dangers of the world around them. He gave it two and a half stars.[4] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle instead found it not as fresh as the original, opining that while the subplots with the Brady children are bold and funny, the main plot failed to exploit its comedic possibilities. He still found it overall enjoyable enough to satisfy those who liked the first film, and commented that "As a satire of a sitcom that wasn't funny, it's often at its funniest when it's purposely stale."[5]

References
  1. "IMDb, A Very Brady Sequel". Amazon.com. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  2. A Very Brady Sequel. Google Play. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  3. "A Very Brady Sequel (1996)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  4. Ebert, Roger (August 23, 1996). "Reviews: A Very Brady Sequel". Roger Ebert.com. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  5. LaSalle, Mick (August 23, 1996). "Another '70s Freak Show from those Wacky 'Bradys'". SFGate. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
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