
DATE: Friday, July 25, 1997                 TAG: 9707250180

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT MOVIE CRITIC 

                                            LENGTH:   54 lines

KENAN AND KEL?

Kenan and Kel?

If you've never heard of them, you must be over age 12. They are the stars of a sitcom on Nickelodeon, ``Kenan and Kel,'' as well as a comedy-skit revue called ``All That.'' They're also the stars of ``Good Burger,'' the new movie that is, one supposes, designed to make all of us, at any age, feel superior.

Here's the level of the humor: A guy walks in a burger stand and says ``Give me a shake.'' Kel grabs him and shakes him.

Oh, well. If ``Dumb and Dumber'' could be a hit, one supposes ``Good Burger'' has a chance.

Kenan Thompson (the plump one with the calculating manner) and Kel Mitchell (the loud one with the wig) are actually a likable comic team. And they even promote a positive message - that work, and competition, is a way to get money, and getting ahead by being yourself.

They play Dexter and Ed, who are supposed to be 14 but act about 10. When Dexter crashes the family car into one of his school teachers (Sinbad), he has to, horrors, get a summer job to pay for the damage. He's hired by Good Burger, the same joint where Ed works. But things don't look promising. Mondo Burger, the big corporate chain with garish colors and a big neon sign, has moved in across the street.

Ed saves the day by inventing Ed's Secret Sauce, something so delicious that the customers even turn down the larger burgers offered by Mondo Burger. Abe Vigoda, a veteran of ``Barney Miller,'' plays the world's oldest fast-food employee (and is the subject of some tasteless ``old folks'' jokes). One of the burgers is delivered to guest star Shaquille O'Neal.

Kel gets more of the laughs. The guys ride around in a Burgermobile that has hubcaps that look like pickles. Sometimes they stick french fries in their noses.

Your tolerance for this may be aligned directly to either your age or your IQ. Looking on the positive side, though, there's little harm done here and the guys do put up a good David vs. Goliath fight.

But do we really have to have a sequel? Already in the works is the tale of how Kenan and Kel go to a haunted house. ILLUSTRATION: MOVIE REVIEW

``Good Burger''

Cast: Kel Mitchell, Kenan Thompson, Sinbad, Abe Vigoda, Shaquille

O'Neal

Director: Brian Robbins

MPAA rating: PG (some offcolor language, mostly harmless, except to

the brain)

Mal's rating: *1/2

Locations: Cinemark, Greenbrier in Chesapeake; Janaf, Main Gate in

Norfolk; Kemps River, Lynnhaven Mall, Pembroke in Virginia Beach