The Beverly Hillbillies . Austin Chronicle . 10-05-98

The Beverly Hillbillies

DIRECTED BY: Joseph Depew

REVIEWED: 10-05-98

I'll make no bones about this: To this day I think that the sublimely lowbrow Beverly Hillbillies is one of the funniest damn sitcoms ever to make it onto TV. Hell, I even own a 45 of "Granny's Miniskirt" by Irene Ryan (on Nashwood Records. Yes, it sounds about like you would expect it to). The impossibly hayseed heroes, the many, many comedies of errors, the painted-with-a-roller characters of Mr. Drysdale and Miss Jane, the vehicles supplied by Chrysler ... but I digress. I had low expectations for a big-screen version, but I was pleasantly surprised. The Clampetts and their kin make it over to Los Ang-a-leez and meet with the same misunderstandings and confusion of the TV series; in this gossamer plot, Rob Schneider and the ever-so-adorable Lea Thompson plot to marry off Jed and swindle him out of his fortune. Though this story wears thinner as the minutes go on, the characterizations are flawless. With Buddy Ebsen about 50 years too old for the part (though he was trundled out for a cameo as Barnaby Jones), Jim Varney is Jed Clampett, as they mistake the upraised middle finger for how folks say "howdy" in L.A. Jethro is a character who has such a subhumanly low level of intellect that he (along with Homer Simpson and Green Acres' Hank Kimball) would never be able to survive, were he a real person; Diedrich Bader plays the grinning, guileless dimbulb to fourth-grade-education perfection. Lily Tomlin holds down the Miss Jane Hathaway character just fine, and Cloris Leachman dutifully fills in as the stubborn Granny. Aside from that, what is there to say about it? It's a series of featherweight gags, buzzing around a plot as scrawny as a starvin' hound dog. Note: A cameo musical number by Dolly Parton will have you diving for cover under your couch!!

--Jerry Renshaw

Film Vault Suggested Links
It's Your Move (tv)
The Andy Griffith Show (tv)
The Family Guy (tv)

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