If you're like me, you spend at least an hour a month wondering why the 1995 gem “The Brady Bunch Movie” isn't quite as revered as “The Addams Family” and “Addams Family Values,” two similarly fantastic and inventive updates of a '60s sitcom. Maybe it's that the image of the original Brady Bunch is so indelible; Florence Henderson and her crew of perky suburbanites will forever be the prevailing version of that clan thanks to syndication. (The original “Addams Family,” meanwhile, has snapped its way into obscurity.) Another major factor at play: “The Brady Bunch Movie” is damn dark. Not that “The Addams Family” isn't, but that movie drolly exalts its original characters. The Bradys undergo a serious evisceration in their '90s satire, and it takes serious viewing and re-viewing to discover how their weirdness is celebrated.
But whatever the reason, we've had “The Brady Bunch Movie” in our lives for 20 years. The internet has finally tuned “Sure, Jan” and Marcia's infamous pronunciation of “school” (sküle) into wonderful memes, but that doesn't mean we've spent enough time rediscovering this film for the wild, naughty takeoff it is.
In honor of its 20th year, let's whine “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia” and recap the ten most underrated moments from “The Brady Bunch Movie.” Mr. Dittmeyer will hate us for it.