Movie Info
Movie Name: A Very Brady Christmas
Studio: CBS
Genre(s): Seasonal/Comedy/Drama/B-Movie
Release Date(s): December 18, 1988
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Everything old is new again…especially Cindy
Christmas is coming and Mike Brady (Robert Reed) has a surprise for his wife Carol (Florence Henderson)…a trip to Japan! Unfortunately, Carol is planning a trip to Greece with the same money. When they decide to compromise, they invite the whole Brady clan home for the holidays. With tickets to come home, Greg (Barry Williams) is forced to take a separate holiday from his wife Nora (Caryn Richman), Peter (Christopher Knight) is trying to determine his relationship with Valerie (Carol Huston), Bobby (Mike Lookinland) hasn’t told his family he dropped out of graduate school to become a racecar driver, Marcia (Maureen McCormick) learns her husband Wally (Jerry Houser) has lost his job at the toy company, Jan (Eve Plumb) is separating from her husband Phillip (Ron Kuhlman), and Cindy (Jennifer Runyon) just wishes her family respected her…and Alice (Ann B. Davis) learns Sam (Lewis Arquette) has left her for another woman. The Bradys are all back and at Christmas, miracles can happen!
Directed by Peter Baldwin, A Very Brady Christmas reunited the cast of the TV series which ran from September 26, 1969 to March 8, 1974. It aired on CBS on December 18, 1988, and the entire cast was able to return except Susan Olsen who was on her honeymoon. Though critically panned (like the television show), the movie has a cult following.
Wow…it’s a very Brady Christmas!
I think I saw A Very Brady Christmas when it aired back in ’88, and even as a kid, I realized how ridiculous it was. The Brady Bunch was a favorite as a kid, but much like something like Full House, the show is so saccharine sweet that it makes you nauseous…but in its own way, it makes it awesomely bad.
Like most Brady Bunch episodes, every line is delivered in almost an “oh you guys” type way that leaves it open for a laugh track. The movie’s attempts to be serious fail miserably and any attempt at drama just doesn’t work. The classic ending which has Carol sing “O Come All Ye Faithful” to raise Mike from the wreckage of the building (which he recommended not to be built) is so laughable that it is worth seeing simply for that.
The cast of The Brady Bunch was always rather acting challenged. Even the leads of Robert Reed and Florence Henderson never were great thespians. Time passing doesn’t help the cast much less the kids who seem to be just reading their lines. It is also odd to see the non-Cindy Cindy played by Jennifer Runyon who is probably most famous for being the test subject of Bill Murray’s university study at the beginning of Ghostbusters.
Remember when your son resurrected Dad from a collapsed building?
The movie looks like the period it came from. It occasionally dips back to the show for flashbacks (including the camping trip and Cindy’s Christmas wish to Santa) and these clips don’t mesh well with the modern clips.
A Very Brady Christmas is bad, but so-bad-it-is-good. People not familiar with the show won’t like it at all, but those who grew up with the Bradys will like the simplistic “very Brady” story. The movie frequently reruns during the holidays so check it out…maybe Carol’s singing will cause the crippled to walk!
