Good Burger ½ (1997, Kel Mitchell, Kenan Thompson, Sinbad, Abe Vigoda, Ron Lester) – Classic Movie Review 3,885

Good Burger is the movie that memorably cleared the London film critics preview theatre back in 1997 and thereafter was known as Bad Burger. Now there’s a sequel!

Director Brian Robbins’s excruciating 1997 juvenile teen comedy Good Burger is based on the popular sketch Good Burger on the Nickelodeon kids’ sketch comedy TV show All That, which aired on the Nickelodeon pay TV channel from 16 April 1994 to 22 October 2005 and was created by Brian Robbins and Mike Tollin.

Kel Mitchell and Kenan Thompson star as Ed and Dexter, teens working at the Good Burger bar, whose existence is threatened by the new Mondo Burger shop opposite.

High-schooler Dexter has wrecked his teacher Mr Wheat (Sinbad)’s car and so he is forced to get a summer job to pay off the damages.

The characters are likeable enough, Kel and Kenan’s performances are praiseworthy, and there is nothing wrong with the movie being silly. But the situations and gags are really braindead. Good Burger is just plain bad. And thereafter is known as Bad Burger.

Also in the cast are Abe Vigoda, Shar Jackson, Dan Schneider, Jan Schweiterman, Ron Lester, Josh Server, Ginny Schreiber, Linda Cardellini, Shaquille O’Neal, George Clinton, Richard Haje, Robert Wuhl, Corrie Harris, Lore Beth Denberg, Marques Houston and Carmen Electra.

The movie was released in US cinemas on 25 July 1997, with a budget of about $10 million. The fans liked it and it was a financial success.

Astoundingly, a belated sequel, Good Burger 2 starring Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell and Jillian Bell, was released on 22 November 2023 on the streaming service Paramount+.

All That had one chance to develop a popular sketch into a feature film with Good Burger. Co-creator Mike Tollin recalled: ‘All of a sudden there’s something called Nickelodeon Movies, put under the banner of Paramount. It was a big synergy. We just took a shot. There was an unforgettable day when we went to Paramount with a script. Brian [Robbins] signed up to direct and we shot the film locally, built Good Burger, brought in Sinbad, brought in Jenny, brought in the whole cast of characters.’

The spinoff teen comedy sitcom Kenan & Kel starred the then All That cast members Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell, and 65 episodes and a TV movie were made over four seasons from 17 August 1996 to 15 July 2000.

Manny’s El Loco restaurant was used as the location for the Good Burger bar.

It is Linda Cardellini’s feature film debut.

Ron Lester, who plays Spatch in Good Burger and is Billy Bob in Robbins’s 1997 Varsity Blues, died of heart and liver failure on 17 June 2016, aged 45. In a lifetime of struggling with obesity, he weighed 508 pounds by the age of 30.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,885
Check out more reviews on: derekwinnert.com