ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996               TAG: 9604230052
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 12   EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW 
SOURCE: KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER

KIDS IN HALL BETTER ON TUBE

There is no question whatsoever that one woman's comedy is another woman's, "What? You thought that was funny?"

So there ought to be a few guideposts for any review of a so-called comedy film. Suffice it to say, I love Kids in the Hall. I love Scott Thompson's Buddy Cole. I love "The Eradicator," "The Head Crusher" and - some of you may recall this skit - the two guys hanging side by side from nooses who just can't seem to get along.

Remember, too, I thought "Fargo" was funny, and I've taken a lot of heat for that in the past couple of weeks. Reference first paragraph (above).

But the Kids' first feature film, "Brain Candy," isn't much funny. Not very funny. Sometimes, not funny at all.

It's about a scientist, Chris Cooper (Kevin McDonald), who invents a drug that makes people happy by setting their emotional state at the exact perfect temperature of 72 degrees. Scientifically speaking, they get to exist in a state of constantly recalling their fondest memory.

Dr. Cooper's ruthless boss at the pharmaceutical company, Don Roritor (Mark McKinney nails this character) needs to generate some revenue in a hurry. So he gets his yes-man Marv (David Foley) to strongarm the scientist into agreeing that the drug is ready for market - now.

But it hasn't been adequately tested. And, of course, that's the trouble - for all of drug-taking humanity.

And for the movie. Because once the movie settles into its "plot" in a conventional sense, the Kids are practically a yawn.

The movie, directed by Kelly Makin - who directed many of the TV show segments - is on its strongest footing in the first half when it uses something like a skit structure. Bruce McCulloch, McDonald, McKinney and Thompson did the writing with the help of screenwriter Norm Hiscock, another Kids alumnus. So perhaps the problem is that none of the above has any experience whatsoever with pacing a comedy for the longer haul.

What's funny in short doses just seems stupid in larger quantities. And, sadly to say, by the end of the movie, even Thompson humiliates himself in one brief scene, shuffling and drooling like a bad Jerry Lewis (apologies to the French) impersonator.

Maybe hard-core Kids' fans will like it anyway. Who can say for sure? "Brain Candy" just made me nostalgic for the Kids' show, and those little pieces of hilarity that added up to so much more.

Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy

** 1/2

Rated (R) for brief nudity, strong language and adult situations, a Paramount Pictures release showing at the Grandin Theatre, 90 minutes.

LENGTH: Medium:   57 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  Scott Thompson (left) and Kevin McDonald play two of 40 
          characters created by the Kids in the Hall in "Kids in the Hall: 
          Brain Candy." color.