“Coat your hands with a generous amount of Kramp Easy-Lube shortening…”
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Synopsis:
A series of satirical skits spoof early 1970s television shows and commercials.
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Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:
- Satires and Spoofs
- Television
Response to Peary’s Review:
Peary is overly generous in his assessment of this “sketch comedy having to do with television” as not “particularly inspired”: indeed, it’s resolutely unfunny for most of its hour-plus running time. Only a few skits are even mildly amusing (I’ve noted my favorites below); the rest are merely raunchy or lame. The least enjoyable spoof of all — an extended TV show segment about drug dealers — is, unfortunately, also the longest, and seems to go on f-o-r-e-v-e-r. While The Groove Tube (which received an X rating) was likely considered risque at the time of its release, its historical notoriety has long since gone with the wind.
Note: The Groove Tube is also of minor cinematic importance for featuring Chevy Chase in his first silver screen appearance.
Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
- The truly disgusting cooking show spoof
- The amusingly deadpan Sexual Olympics skit
Must See?
No. While it has a selective cult following, The Groove Tube isn’t must-see viewing for all film fanatics.
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One thought on “Groove Tube, The (1974)”
Not must-see.
I often confuse ‘The Groove Tube’ with ‘Kentucky Fried Movie’ since the formats are similar. (‘KFM’ is the better of the two.) So, like ‘KFM’, the humor here is mostly sophomoric – though ‘TGT’ has the edge on grossness. (With its ‘Wild World of Sports’ sequence – ‘TGT’ lifts from the ending of Woody Allen’s ‘Bananas’.)
Yes, occasionally it’s mildly amusing, but it’s not one that ffs should make a point of seeing.