The Brady Bunch in the White House / Growing Up Brady

Rating:
Summary: Save Your Money
Review: I loved the first two Brady Movies and when I saw this one, I rushed home to watch it. Not only does this film NOT have the original kids, it's a real bomb. Sad to say, it's not even worth renting and I was so disappointed. I also hate wasting money.

Rating:
Summary: Brady Insanity!!
Review: These movies are actually not that bad at all and worth it for most Brady maniacs. Here's a brief rundown:

1) The Brady Bunch in the White House - I've never really liked these Brady movies. I've felt since the beginning that they were mean-spirited & completely nonsensical (why on earth are the Brady's stuck in the 70s while the rest of the world is not? I understand how bizarre of a juxtaposition it provides for the spoof, but it's very one-note). That said, Gary Cole's take on Mike There's-always-a-lesson-to-be-learned Brady is especially hysterical. As the third installment of these films, "...White House" completely throws all credibility to the wind and presents us with a truly bizare, almost surreal, vision of the Bunch with them, literallly, taking over the country. The result is nothing great, but certainly funny enough in its own audacious way.

b) Growing Up Brady - This Barry Williams (Aka, Greg) backed TV pic aired on the original Brady mother station, ABC, in or about the same time as an awful, sensationalistic, FOX movie called - get this! - "The Final Days of the Brady Bunch," which was nothing less than utterly depressing. Here, ABC not only based the flick on material from Williams' book of the same title, but kept with the light spirit of the original show, only hinting at the behind-the-scenes bickering between Robert Reed & Sherwood Shwartz (executive producer of the show). Williams' claims that Reed & co. went to great lengths to make sure the kids weren't exposed to such ugliness, and Reed's homosexuality was not flaunted on the set. Here, the subject is treated with respect & taste, culminating in a scene where a young Williams confides in TV mom Florence Henderson, who dealt directly with Reed's unfortunate awkwardness on the set. The film could've gone a bit further, as Williams' book did, in relaying how much Reed truly cared about his Bunch, taking them on trip to Europe and lavishing them with expensive gifts.

ABC also scored with a winning cast, who for the most part look and behave an awful lot like their real-life counterparts. More than that, they seem very well schooled in their respective mannerisms. In fact, Bobby Brady is played by the son of Mike Lookinland, the originator of the role. He looks & sounds exactly like him!! They even duplicated the black hair dye job that producers forced upon the blonde Lookinlad in the early days of the show. Speaking of duplication, the old Brady set is reproduced to a tee...right down to the familiar horse sculpture beneath the stairs.