The Gospel According to Good Burger

There's something about "Good Burger" that people love. Directed by a relatively unknown man, Brian Robbins (he went on to direct those godawful Eddie Murphy movies, 'Norbit' and 'Meet Dave'), and released in 1997, "Good Burger" was almost instant nostalgia. When I tell people that I own a copy of the film, I'm always met with a positive response; "I love that movie!" most people exclaim, and then proceed to tell me how they haven't watched it since they were a "kid". And even if they don't remember a single scene, they still remember how much they loved that movie, especially the iconic line "Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger, can I take your order?" How can a film so seemingly mundane, and clearly cranked out for the sole purpose of profiting off a brief fad (It was based on a sketch on Nickelodeon's late night comedy show, "All That" a.k.a. SNL for 8 year-olds), go on to became such a staple of 90's childhood nostalgia?

Now let me just warn you: I love "Good Burger". It is my single most favorite film. I have literally watched it over a hundred times, sometimes multiple times in one day, and it never gets old. I believe that the secret to the movie's success lies in the fact that it is a perfect piece of film making - not a single cut is out of place and each shot is masterfully composed. The tone of the film itself is something rarely seen in movies today; never spoofing and not quite a farce, "Good Burger" exists in that magical world of cinema where anything is imaginable. I mean, where else but in the world of cinema can heroes be dragged off to mental institutions named "Demented Hills", or can there be car chases in ice-cream trucks with the logo "O'Bese Bros." written on the side. Who is this mysterious O'Malley and why, as we're told in passing, did he show up to work without his pants? What is wrong with Ed, is he mentally ill? Is he always high? And how old is he even supposed to be? We never see his parents. Come to think of it, we never see any parents, or respectable adult of any kind for that matter.

Mondo Burger, the corporate fascists trying to run Good Burger out of business, is run by a team of surfer dude bullies, barely out of college. They have access to illegal chemicals to put in their burgers, they seem to have some wealthy investors behind them, the likes of which we never see, and they have connections to doctors at Demented Hills who seem willing, if not eager, to lock away trouble makers for their fast food friends without a single question. The only two figures of authority seem to be Mr. Bailey, the owner of Good Burger who, when times are rough, announces that he's begun to feed his mother cat food, and Mr. Wheat (played by Sinbad) the high school teacher who frets over his afro, his damaged car ("That's Detroit leather!!") and has his own theme music (think Shaft). In this strange world of "Good Burger" the greatest man any child could hope of meeting is Shaquille O'Neal (played by Shaq, of course), who personally orders fast food to be delivered to his locker room.

"Good Burger" is cult film-making at its finest; an episodic piece of nostalgia rendered absurdist opus. The film can be broken down into individual events and lines; in Ed's world, seemingly more bizarre than the world of "Good Burger" itself, chickens moo, swimming in the smoothie machine is okay, sticking grapes up one's nose is a past time, and Ed himself may or may not be "a pretty nurse" (all is explained, barely, in the movie). In the real world, a man like Ed couldn't function, or he would be heavily medicated, but perhaps that is just the unwritten subtext of the film: Ed is an idiot-savant, off his medication and running wild. Or maybe the whole film exists within the mind of Ed; how else could a dog tell Ed through barking that 4 clowns are stuck on the side of the road in a broken down car, and then, sure enough, we cut to those clowns waiting for the dog to return with help? And how the heck did those clowns come to even find themselves in a broken down car?

These absences of explanation are what enable "Good Burger" to be viewed so many times. Like the ever expanding Star Wars universe, or the zany interconnected plots of Kevin Smith flicks, "Good Burger" invites fans to use their imaginations; it forces them to fill in the gaps and revel in the mysteries of Ed's disorder. Imagination is the home of Good Burger, and everyone's order is welcome.