Good Burger

Good Burger
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Brian Robbins
Produced by	Mike Tollin Brian Robbins
Written by	Dan Schneider Kevin Kopelow Heath Seifert
Starring	Kel Mitchell Kenan Thompson Abe Vigoda
Music by	Stewart Copeland
Cinematography	Mac Ahlberg
Edited by	Anita Brandt-Burgoyne
Production company	Nickelodeon Movies Tollin/Robbins Productions
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	July 25, 1997 (1997-07-25)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$9 million
Box office	$23.7 million

Good Burger is a 1997 American comedy film directed by Brian Robbins and starring Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. The film evolved from the comedy sketch "Good Burger" featured on the Nickelodeon series All That. The film was produced by Tollin/Robbins Productions and Nickelodeon Movies and released on July 25, 1997 by Paramount Pictures. The movie has gained a cult following, in spite of receiving a largely mixed to negative critical reception upon release.

Plot

On the first day of summer, dim-witted but kind-hearted Ed has a nightmare about talking hamburgers. Troubled by it, he shows up late to work at Good Burger. On the same morning, Dexter, a high school student, steals his mother's car after she leaves for a business trip. He accidentally crashes into his teacher Mr. Wheat's car. With no driver's license or insurance, Dexter is liable to go to jail. Wheat agrees that he will not call the police if Dexter pays $1,900 to cover the damage and also needs to pay for her the damage of his mother's car. In need of money, Dexter gets a job at Mondo Burger, but after a clash with the young strict manager, Kurt Bozwell, he is fired. Dexter then finds work at Good Burger, where he meets and reluctantly befriends Ed and a slew of colorful employees.

Dexter is successful at Good Burger, but his success takes a turn for the worst. Across the street, Mondo Burger opens a new franchise. The oversized burgers they make threaten to put Good Burger out of business until Ed invents a "secret sauce", which improves the restaurant's business. Dexter learns that Ed caused his car accident by darting front of Dexter's car while wearing rollerblades. Dexter then cheats Ed by taking portions of his bonus paychecks earned from the sauce to pay off the debt to Mr. Wheat, and to also save some for his own pocket.

Upset that Good Burger is doing so well because of Ed's sauce, Kurt tries to get the recipe, first by enticing Ed to work at Mondo Burger for more money. Dedicated to Good Burger, Ed refuses. Kurt then sends in an attractive employee named Roxanne who fails to seduce Ed into divulging his "secret sauce" recipe. Meanwhile, Dexter takes a shine to coworker Monique, and she eventually agrees to a double date with him along with Ed and Roxanne. The next day, however, Monique breaks up with Dexter after she discovers his attempts to cheat Ed out of his money.

Ed and Dexter encounter a dog on the street and attempt to feed it a Good Burger and a Mondo Burger. It eats the former, but refuses to even look at the latter. Suspicious that there is something wrong with the meat, Ed and Dexter disguise themselves as old women and enter Mondo Burger to investigate. The two discover that Mondo is using an illegal food additive called "Triampathol" to make their burgers oversized. Kurt is not fooled by Ed and Dexter's disguises. He kidnaps them and sends them to Demented Hills Mental Hospital to prevent the public from learning Mondo Burger's secret.

With Ed and Dexter out of the way, Kurt and his employees break into Good Burger after closing and spike Ed's "secret sauce" with shark poison. When Ed and Dexter's coworker, Otis, attempts to call the police on them, Kurt sends him to Demented Hills as well. There, Otis tells Ed and Dexter about Kurt's scheme to poison the "secret sauce." After getting the entire hospital to break out into song and dance, the trio escapes. They steal an ice cream truck, but are pursued by a Demented Hills van. Ed and Dexter throw ice cream treats at it, causing it to crash. Upon arriving at Good Burger, Ed stops a woman from eating a poisoned burger just in time. Ed and Dexter break into Mondo Burger so they can expose the chemically infused burgers to the police. While Dexter provides a distraction, Ed tries to take a can of Triampathol, but accidentally knocks one into the meat grinder. Ed then decides to pour the rest of the Triampathol into the grinder. On the roof, Kurt catches Ed and Dexter and confiscates the empty Triampathol can. Suddenly, the Triampathol-laden meat begins to explode, and destroys Mondo Burger. The police arrest Kurt for illegal use of the chemical. With the destruction of Mondo Burger, Mr. Wheat's car is destroyed once again, much to Dexter's amusement as he hands him the first half of the money owed for the crash.

Dexter apologizes to Ed for taking his money, and both end up on friendly terms. They then walk back to Good Burger, where the employees praise them, especially Ed, as Good Burger heroes.

Cast

• Kel Mitchell as Ed, the inept, but well-meaning teen cashier of Good Burger.
• Kenan Thompson as Dexter Reed, a sixteen year old high school student who desires to slack during his summer vacation.
• Abe Vigoda as Otis, an elderly Good Burger employee who cooks the French fries.
• Jan Schweiterman as Kurt Bozwell, the C.E.O. and restaurant owner of Mondo Burger who will stop at nothing to make his food chain number one.
• Sinbad as Mr. Wheat, a teacher who demands money from Dexter for car damage.
• Shar Jackson as Monique, a female Good Burger employee who scolds Dexter for using Ed's gullibility to steal most of his money, but eventually becomes his girlfriend.
• Dan Schneider as Mr. Baily, the owner and manager of Good Burger.
• Ron Lester as Spatch, the head fry cook of Good Burger.
• Lori Beth Denberg as Connie Muldoon, a customer whose extremely complex orders are too difficult for Ed to memorize.
• Josh Server as Fizz, the drive-thru employee of Good Burger.
• Ginny Schreiber as Deedee, one of the 2 female employees at Good Burger and a vegetarian.
• Linda Cardellini as Heather, an insane girl in Demented Hills that has feelings for Ed.
• Shaquille O'Neal as Himself
• George Clinton as Dancing Crazy, a Demented Hills patient.
• Robert Wuhl as an Angry Customer
• Carmen Electra (uncredited) as Roxanne, a henchwoman of Kurt who tries, but fails, to seduce Ed into telling his secret sauce recipe.
• Marques Houston as Jake, Dexter's high school friend.
• J. August Richards as Griffen, one of Kurt's right hand men.
• Hamilton Von Watts as Troy, Kurt's other right-hand man
• Wendy Worthington as the Demented Hills nurse.

Filming

Most of the film's scenes were filmed along S Glendora Avenue in West Covina, California in 1996. The building known as "Good Burger" in the movie was filmed at a restaurant currently known as "Peter's El Loco" 437 Glendora Ave., West Covina, CA. Meanwhile, Mondo Burger was located across the street at the Samantha Courtyard shopping center, with extra details added to the facade for the film.

Soundtrack

Main article: Good Burger (soundtrack)

A soundtrack containing hip hop, R&B, funk and punk music was released on July 15, 1997 by Capitol Records. It peaked at 101 on the Billboard 200 and 65 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

Release

Short film

The Action League Now! episode Rock-a-Big Baby was released prior to the film's screening. It was rated PG "for some risqué humor."

Box office

In its opening weekend, Good Burger grossed $7.1 million, finishing in 5th at the box office. It went on to gross $23.7 million.

Critical reception

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 32% based on reviews from 38 critics. Most praise came to Kel Mitchell and Kenan Thompson's performances.

Lisa Alspector of Chicago Reader gave the film a negative review, and wrote "The perceived notion that kids want their movies fast and furious is barely in evidenced in this 1997 comedy, a laboriously slow suburban adventure in which a teenager's summer of leisure slips through his fingers when he has to get a job—an experience that proves almost life threatening because of the cutthroat competition between two burger joints."

Andy Seiler of USA Today gave this film a score of 2/4, saying that "Good Burger is not very well done, but it does have energy."

Leonard Klady of Variety enjoyed the film and wrote "The meat of the piece is definitely FDA cinematically approved, and perfect if you like this brand of entertainment with the works."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote "It didn't do much for me, but I am prepared to predict that its target audience will have a good time." He gave the film two out of four stars.

Home media

Paramount released the film on VHS on February 17, 1998 and on DVD on May 27, 2003. Warner Home Video (who releases Paramount titles on DVD and Blu-ray under license, as Paramount themselves have moved to digital-only distribution) re-issued the film on DVD on September 24, 2013.

External links

• Good Burger at IMDb
• Good Burger at AllMovie
• Good Burger at Rotten Tomatoes