602 - INVASION USA with short: A DATE WITH YOUR FAMILY

Synopsis:  The feature starts off in a bar as a small group of people discuss the government and related subjects.  They talk about how they don’t want to pay taxes, and one businessman who owns a factory talks about how he doesn’t want the military coming in and taking over his plant.  But, then, a mysterious man shows up and asks everyone a few questions.  He then starts to swirl his brandy glass... look into the brandy glass... look at the swirling brandy... you are getting sleepy... very sleepy... All of a sudden, Soviet Russia (or at least some other evil foreign country with funny accents) is attacking the good ole U.S. of A.  Atomic Bombs have been dropped in Washington state and evil foreign paratroopers have landed in San Francisco.  The group disperses to either go be with their families or be a wartime-nurse or broadcast war news or pick up that hot-looking new wartime-nurse as your girlfriend to spend your last days with (now we’re talking!)   One rancher guy goes to get his family, who live near the Hoover (aka Boulder) Dam.  Of course, soon after he gets there, the Evil Foreigners with Funny Accents bomb the Dam and the flood drowns him and his family.  And another guy from the bar, the factory-owning businessman, is betrayed by his window washer (who turns out to be a Foreigner!) and he too dies.  Finally, because America wasn’t prepared for war, the Evil Foreign Power invades New York City, dropping a few A-bomb here and there, and the news broadcaster and his new wartime-nurse girlfriend are captured then killed... Stare into the brandy glass... you are going to wake up now... We’re back in the bar and everything that happened was just a fantasy, induced by the brandy-drinking hypnotist.  But everyone is now convinced to change his or her ways, so America will be ready for invasion from Evil Foreigners:  I want to pay more taxes!  I want to give blood!  I’d want the military to take over my factory, if I had one!  And, most of all, I want a hot-looking wartime-nurse girlfriend!!!

Don’s Review:  This extremely bad and misguided movie made for great riffing material and M&tBs do a fantastic job for our country – their riffs were so inspirational, it made me glad to be an American!  Glad, I tell ya!  Except for a lame visit from the A-bomb, the host segments are also pretty funny – especially one that spoofs the “A Date with Your Family” short.  This episode can be viewed as a companion piece to episode 205 - Rocket Attack USA and, like that great episode, I highly recommend this experiment.

Don’s Rating:     [ S:   F: ]

Forrest’s Review:  On its initial run in Season Six, I liked this episode a lot.  I thought it was one of the best.  But on a repeat viewing, it left me a bit cold.  The episode starts out with a great short A Date With Your Family, which I'd go as far as saying it was the best short ever done on the show, only matched by Once Upon A Honeymoon.  It has some first rate riffing, and had me laughing the whole way through.
      The feature is a boring movie about Russia invading the United States that makes Red Dawn look like pure genius.  The riffing does shine in a number of spots, particularly the shots of stock footage that appear throughout.  But the boring scenes throughout the movie contain way too much dialogue, and were unriffable.  As I mentioned in my review of Blood Lust, Frank Conniff picked out a number of movies that simply were too boring and had too much dialogue, and were not bad enough in technical terms, that they weren't fun to hate.  Still, the riffing in this is generally high quality, and there were quite a few riffs that made me laughing crazily, especially when a Russian general walks into a room with a big map on the wall, and Crow says: “The most feared geography teacher at Central High.”
      The host segments were okay at best, and not too memorable.  For example, the visit by the atom bomb was amusing, but it fell rather flat.  The hilarious short makes this episode well worth seeing, and the movie does have its moments, but sheer boredom overpowers all.  Don should see this one again.  It’s really not that good at all.

Forrest’s Rating:     [ S:   F: ]

Related Link: 
   (1) DVD Savant (Movie Review)