SNL MVP Kenan Thompson stars as straight man to co-star Kel Mitchell, with both pulling off funny jokes in Nickelodeon’s weak, nostalgic sequel, streaming on Paramount+.
Coming 26 years after the cult-favorite Nickelodeon comedy debuted in 1997, “Good Burger 2” fits into a streaming-era trend in which audiences seek to relive nostalgia by reconnecting with old favorites, like “Coming to America.” Or “Hocus Pocus” – not exactly classics so much as modest pleasures from more innocent times. In this unfunny and unsavory follow-up from Paramount+, stars Kel Mitchell and Kenan Thompson return as down-on-his-luck fast food employees. To update the story to 2023, director Phil Traill and screenwriters Kevin Copello and Heath Seifert add some new characters and a cumbersome AI-powered plot, and it ends with a Thanksgiving diversion that works well in the background while families gather for their holiday meals.
The big deal here is supposed to be a reunion of Kenan and Kell, which the film delivers without delay: Ed (Mitchell) now owns Good Burger, where he serves as a benevolent boss, treating his employees with compassion but never losing his enthusiasm or feeling. Of humor. Dexter (Thompson) is an inventor trying to make ends meet. After the disastrous reveal of his latest failed device, he is forced to return to his teenage job, working alongside Ed. Even by sequel logic, this setup doesn’t make any sense, but at least it’s quick.
Although Mitchell and Thompson share the screen for a short time, the audience rarely gets a chance to appreciate their chemistry before boring new characters are introduced and the film descends into a convoluted, humorless plot. A nefarious businessman (Jillian Bell) tangentially connected to a character from the first film wants to acquire a Good Burger franchise and steal it from Ed. With the help of a mysterious lawyer (Lil Rel Howery), they manage to trick Dexter into betraying his best friend.
That’s where AI comes in: the bad guys plan to open franchises around the world and replace the workforce with robots that look and act like Ed. As in the first film, our heroes team up with other employees to foil the plan. Believe it or not, this simplistic plot is not the film’s problem; Rather, it is the silly jokes and repetitive dialogues that prevent him from laughing. The cast is basically left stuck, trying to steal the cameras as they desperately try to make up for the undercooked script.
No one is more lost than Thompson, who graduated from the original “Good Burger” to become a solid part of the “Saturday Night Live” ensemble. The sequel deprives him of showcasing his obvious comedic talent. Thompson is forced to play the straight man to Mitchell’s more flamboyant character, and ends up explaining the strange shenanigans that occur rather than doing anything comedic. Almost every nonsensical line uttered by Mitchell is followed by a sober explanation from Thompson, suggesting that the writers don’t trust the audience to get the obvious jokes. What a waste of someone who shows almost every week how loud a laugh he is on TV.
Meanwhile, lacking anything interesting to do, Mitchell resorts to using an unpleasant high-pitched voice and a “terrible” attitude. The actor wastes the opportunity to do something different when he plays the robot version of his character, pulling a silly joke and making silly expressions.
Thompson enlists a group of his “SNL” cast mates to appear in the film, but the script doesn’t give them much to do. As a result, Leslie Jones, Maya Rudolph, and Bette Davidson end up as wasted characters in one scene. Instead of writing something clever for them to play, the filmmakers seem to think that recognizing a famous face is inherently funny. Gal Gadot’s much-derided “Imagine” video parody from the early days of the pandemic makes a few extra cameos, culminating with a sly one-liner that may be this film’s only real chuckle.
Elsewhere, hysteria abounds as Trail and editor Christian Hoffmann struggle to find a funny idea. Speeding up the actors’ performances doesn’t work, nor do the poor special effects and obvious body doubles that appear in some sequences. The scenario amounts to a series of frustrating misunderstandings, followed by even more frustrating explanations, as characters shout over each other to no avail. When a fast food sequel takes this long to make, it should taste a lot better than “Good Burger 2.”
“Good Burger 2” is now streaming on Paramount+.
Future teen idol. Typical social media ninja. Alcohol buff. Explorer. Creator. Beer advocate.”