Good Burger

Note: This review contains spoilers for Good Burger.

Back in 1994, Nickelodeon premiered All That, a live-action sketch comedy series that lasted ten seasons prior to its 2019 revival. Of the many sketches that appeared across the show’s nearly 200 episodes, the recurring “Good Burger” sketch, in which the clueless teenager Ed somehow always messes things up, proved popular enough that in January 1997, Paramount fast-tracked production of a feature film based on it. The final product released in July that same year to mixed critical reception, but proved commercially successful, grossing $23.7 million against its $8.5 million budget, and gained a cult following over time.

As someone who didn’t grow up watching All That, despite it airing during my childhood, I first saw Good Burger completely out of context through someone else’s VHS. Although I had no attention span as a child, Good Burger stood out and after sporadically rewatching it through a later DVD release, I could quote the movie even with up to over a decade between viewings. Naturally, with the release of the direct to streaming sequel Good Burger 2, we rewatched Good Burger once again and found that, while not a great movie, it had held up surprisingly well 26 years later.

Just as summer vacation starts, Dexter Reed (Kenan Thompson), aka Dex, takes his mother’s car on a joyride while she’s away on a business trip, but his fun abruptly ends when he crashes into his school teacher, Mr. Wheat’s (Sinbad) car. Since Dex drove with no license or insurance, he volunteers to pay off the damages, first estimated at $1,900, in exchange for not involving the police or his parents. Dex tries earning the money through a job at the soon-to-open Mondo Burger, but is fired by his boss, Kurt Bozwell (Jan Schweiterman), and ends up working at Good Burger across the street, reluctantly befriending the dimwitted Ed (Kel Mitchell) in the process. Mondo Burger’s opening brings new challenges for Good Burger and when the smaller restaurant sees renewed success with a new sauce concocted by Ed, Mondo Burger grows more ruthless and Dexter finds his character tested.

Dexter Reed (Kenan Thompson, left) has to spend his summer working
with Ed (Kel Mitchell, right) at Good Burger.

There’s no getting around the fact that Good Burger has a silly plot. Dex arguably didn’t need an origin for working with Ed in fast food, Ed and Dex spend some amount of the movie driving a burger themed car, the duo goes to odd lengths to get dirt on Mondo Burger, the duo partly dances their way out of an asylum and Mondo Burger is undone in spectacular fashion by their own hubris. There’s even an extended opening sequence where we see Ed’s point of view as he wakes up from a dream with flying hamburgers and we learn he sleeps and even showers in his uniform. However, the plot works surprisingly well. There’s a certain 90s charm to the story that helps elevate it beyond simply a feature-length All That sketch, like the film knows that it’s not high art and doesn’t try to take on an order it can’t fulfill.

What helps is that although the film respectably revels in its inherent silliness, there is a solid emotional core in the growing bond between Dex and Ed despite their differing personalities. Ed’s oblivious and literal minded nature at times skirts the line between annoying and funny and it’s a real wonder how his antics, such as an attempt at fixing the shake machine from inside the liquid and subsequently wading in it like a “strawberry jacuzzi”, hadn’t gotten him fired. One could even describe him as an enigma, as he usually hilariously misinterprets what other people say and only recognizes some of the words on a contract, yet he also knows a surprising amount about the American legal system, which influences his actions during the climax. Dex, on the other hand, is more than just the straight man to Ed, as he actively tries taking advantage of Ed’s naiveté with a one-sided contract where he gets most of the payout from Ed’s sauce, a ploy born from his desperation to pay off the damage to Mr. Wheat’s car. He does turn around, however, when faced with both his romantic prospects with his co-worker Monique (Shar Jackson) blowing up in his face and Ed gifting him a yo-yo very similar to the one he described from his childhood, which demonstrated that Ed had a very kind heart beneath his goofy exterior.

One of the more emotional moments in the film.

Around the emotional core and light commentary on Mondo Burger’s mass-produced corporate approach versus Good Burger’s independent made-to-order spirit, however, Good Burger is still a comedy and a “laugh out loud” one at that. A lot of the humor comes from the interactions between the characters, especially Ed’s interpretations of what others say. For example, arguing that only serving two buns is valid because the customer asked for “a Good Burger with nothing on it” and that “a meat patty is something” or that he just can’t give a customer two Good Burgers because they have to pay for them first. From my own research, I realized that some bits reference or recreate certain jokes from the All That sketches, a neat bonus for fans who grew up with that show. That said, the asylum portion feels odd even in context, in spite of a couple funny bits, and the jokes about Otis’ age hit different after Abe Vigoda’s death nearly 20 years later.

You won’t find any subtlety in the acting, thanks to the distinct Nickelodeon overacting on display, but Good Burger does feature solid casting. Kenan and Kel have excellent chemistry that gives the impression they’re really having fun in their roles. Even at the young age of eighteen, a few years before his lengthy tenure on Saturday Night Live, Kenan Thompson’s comedic ability could make just about anything funny while Kel Mitchell gives Ed a specific and unique energy that makes the character memorable (in a good way), which he can impressively sustain for just over 90 minutes. Similarly, Jan Schweiterman’s hammy performance makes Kurt a memorable villain that you love to hate. Abe Vigoda remains an odd casting choice for Good Burger, especially since the target audience wouldn’t know anything about him, but he clearly does his best with Otis and still provides a couple laughs of his own. Although Shaquille O’Neal makes a quick cameo, it works in the context of showing Good Burger’s success in spite of Mondo Burger’s threatening presence.

Kurt (Jan Schweiterman) is enjoyably evil.

Likely as a result of its small budget, the film doesn’t feature many special effects, including some minimal but rather obvious green screen during the opening sequence. Apart from that, there are plenty of practical effects that have held up pretty well and the general aesthetic of the film has a nice charm to it. While they did include some product placement, it feels pretty organic, like placing a Häagen-Dazs logo in an ice cream truck or including a Rold Gold delivery truck in a reasonable location. Similarly, the licensed tracks feel pretty appropriate for the setting and time period and a version of Ed’s song, “We’re All Dudes”, acts as a nice bookend.

While imperfect, Good Burger is still fun after all this time and even doubles as a neat 90’s time capsule. Even if you didn’t grow up in that decade, I would recommend watching it at least once. You may just find something you like about it. Now, there’s only one thing left to say:

“Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger. Can I take your order?”