Good Burger

If you're not in the know, don't ask. Maybe it's best. Kenan and Kel are stars of Nickelodeon's teen TV smash comedy, All That. Ed, the Good Burger counter jock, with a half portion of fries for brains, is a sketch character from the show. As a result, kids who love his manic stupidity think the movie's great. Those who have never heard of Ed, or seen Kel Mitchell bathe in a milkshake machine, or underestimate American kids' ability to find garbage funny, will endure the mindless slapstick in a state of stunned disbelief.

Once Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd had the country in thrall with pathos, originality and classic sight gags. Now this. Ed (Mitchell) is a sweet guy, who is so dumbed down a child of four could beat him at Hunt The Thimble. He lives for the job and even showers in his Good Burger uniform. He makes mistakes the whole time, but no one minds because it's only Ed. Forrest Gump is an intellectual giant compared to this dodo.

Dexter (Kenan Thompson) is a smarter cookie altogether. His eye is on the main chance, especially if there's dollars attached. When he crashes his mom's shiny red sports car into his teacher's shiny blue sedan, he is forced to work a summer job at Good Burger to make the wages to pay for repairs. The story, if that is the word for falling about in ketchup, concerns a flash Mondo burger chain opening opposite Ed and Dex's place, managed by a ruthless punk and staffed by square-jawed sadists.

The bun war is on, with the old fashioned Good Burger losing heavily to the mammoth whopper promises of Mondo's post modernist chic until Ed unveils his secret new sauce and everyone comes flocking back. It is a join-the-spots baddy/goody thing, as subtle as Slush Puppy. Kel is 18 and Kenan 19. You can't blame them. They do what they do with energy and more energy. The problem is what they do. Like a virus in the head, it's no joke. Plain silly would be an improvement.