The bottom line: Brain Candy, the movie from the Kids in the Hall, is funny. But it’s not that funny.

The first and probably only film from the now-defunct Canadian comedy troupe has some seriously funny gags, but overall, it isn’t consistently funny. And that’s a shame. This could have been and should have been an end-to-end, full 90-minute riot of deep-black comedy.

But what you get is about 10 good jokes and a load of filler stringing them together.

The story goes like this: a Roritor Pharmaceuticals researcher has discovered a drug which appears to cure clinical depression by unlocking the patient’s happiest memory and chemically holding that mood. More testing is needed, but Roritor, in deep financial trouble, pushes the drug into the market prematurely, calling it Gleemonex. Worse yet, Gleemonex is approved for over-the-counter sale.

And yes, the side effects eventually appear. Heavy users eventually go into a catatonic but happy state, unable to move but in one great mood. The scientists who came up with the drug are appalled, and they work to reverse the effects before all of Canada is in a coma.

Had the Kids focused on the story, a satire of the drug industry, the media and some people’s quest to solve their problems through chemical means, this could have been a classic.

But instead they went for a series of good, but not fully inspired sequences which look to be derived from sketches. It’s as if they had some good material they didn’t do on the show and wanted to use it, so they strung it all together with a rather tenuous plot to fill an hour and a half.

As a result, it’s a very episodic film, without much flow to the plot or story. Some of the characters and sequences are good for a big laugh, especially the flashbacks that Gleemonex users have when they drop a tablet.

The best element of the film is its look. It has a quirky, off-balance feel and a great opening credit sequence (something that most filmmakers apparently haven’t the time or imagination for). But that should tell you something when the cinematography outweighs the comedy.

The Kids have always been compared with Monty Python due to their style. But there is no way they can measure up to the British masters. If you see Brain Candy , rent one of the last two Python films, Life of Brian or The Meaning of Life and see the difference for yourself.

MPAA Rating: R (very adult oriented humor)

Entertainment Value: 5

Overall Quality: 4