I suspect you're not going to get much out of this unless you're a serious Brady fan. That said, this is a Brady lover's fantasy come true...finally getting to have the camera swing around to the lives of the real kids. One wonders if the real kids didn't have far more interesting and provocative lives than the scripted ones. But I guess in the early 70s that kind of Real World would have been too real. Even today, you probably couldn't do a Real World about kids under 18.
If this movie had been only about Sherwood Schwartz I would have given it a 10 because Michael Tucker is just mesmerizing to watch. Although he has a fairly small part, he steals every scene.
Rebeccah Bush as Florence Henderson is possibly better than the original. She radiates elegance and glamor. Since this story is told through Barry Williams eyes, the provocative performance may be dramatic license. It's hard to imagine the real Florence Henderson wanting to french kiss in 1969 on a stage full of kids.
Adam Brody as Barry Williams gets most of the screen time. He never quite nails Barry for me. Christopher Barnes, as I recall from the first Brady Bunch Movie feature film, had a more realistic performance. But you soon look beyond this defect and start to view this movie as if it were the same show in an alternate universe. The other key characters are also a little off the mark, but quite passable after a brief period of adjustment.
The most jarring aspect is that in real life the kids aged rather dramatically over the course of five years. Here the same actors play their parts for the duration.
I read the book and knew going in that this was mostly about Barry and Maureen but I was hoping for more of Chris Knight, the kid I most identified with in first run. Apparently Chris hated doing the show almost as much as Robert Reed. Too bad. By the final season, the real Chris was the best actor of all of the kids. The episode of "Peter" trying to land his first job was a refreshing departure from the "Gilligan's Island" slapstick. Both Chris and Robert Reed have a great tag scene together in that one. Here, up and coming star Ricky Ullman (Phil of the Future) plays Chris rather unevenly, but at times he does bear a passing resemblance.
I don't remember Robert Reed coming off as such as spoiled sport in the book. He was certainly a good enough actor not to let it show on screen. Daniel Hugh Kelly tries hard but never really convinces me he's Robert Reed. And that may be more the fault of the script for giving his character too dark an edge for what should have been more of a lightweight documentary rather than a soap opera.
The real life Barry looks terrific. He hasn't changed much. It would have been fun if the real cast had appeared in cameos.
If this movie had been only about Sherwood Schwartz I would have given it a 10 because Michael Tucker is just mesmerizing to watch. Although he has a fairly small part, he steals every scene.
Rebeccah Bush as Florence Henderson is possibly better than the original. She radiates elegance and glamor. Since this story is told through Barry Williams eyes, the provocative performance may be dramatic license. It's hard to imagine the real Florence Henderson wanting to french kiss in 1969 on a stage full of kids.
Adam Brody as Barry Williams gets most of the screen time. He never quite nails Barry for me. Christopher Barnes, as I recall from the first Brady Bunch Movie feature film, had a more realistic performance. But you soon look beyond this defect and start to view this movie as if it were the same show in an alternate universe. The other key characters are also a little off the mark, but quite passable after a brief period of adjustment.
The most jarring aspect is that in real life the kids aged rather dramatically over the course of five years. Here the same actors play their parts for the duration.
I read the book and knew going in that this was mostly about Barry and Maureen but I was hoping for more of Chris Knight, the kid I most identified with in first run. Apparently Chris hated doing the show almost as much as Robert Reed. Too bad. By the final season, the real Chris was the best actor of all of the kids. The episode of "Peter" trying to land his first job was a refreshing departure from the "Gilligan's Island" slapstick. Both Chris and Robert Reed have a great tag scene together in that one. Here, up and coming star Ricky Ullman (Phil of the Future) plays Chris rather unevenly, but at times he does bear a passing resemblance.
I don't remember Robert Reed coming off as such as spoiled sport in the book. He was certainly a good enough actor not to let it show on screen. Daniel Hugh Kelly tries hard but never really convinces me he's Robert Reed. And that may be more the fault of the script for giving his character too dark an edge for what should have been more of a lightweight documentary rather than a soap opera.
The real life Barry looks terrific. He hasn't changed much. It would have been fun if the real cast had appeared in cameos.