Directed By Phil Traill

Starring – Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell, Jillian Bell

The Plot – Dexter Reed (Thompson) is down on his luck after another one of his inventions fails. Ed (Mitchell) welcomes Dex back to Good Burger with open arms and gives him his old job back. With a new crew working at Good Burger, Dex devises a plan to get back on his feet but unfortunately puts the fate of Good Burger at risk once again.

Rated TV-PG

Good Burger 2 | Official Trailer | Paramount+ – YouTube

POSITIVES

Twenty-six years after they last punched out, Kenan and Kel still maintain an unmatched chemistry and bigger than life charisma that helps to override the limitations of the repetitious material. Kel in particular takes more of a commanding charge to the focus of the narrative, this time around, with some surprising developments in the depth of his character that Mitchell wholeheartedly embraces, particularly once Thompson’s Dexter returns to the forefront of his life. Because the two of them know their respective roles, with Thompson serving as the sternly straight man, and Mitchell being the loudly boisterous lunatic, both of them shine in ways that are integral to the experience, offering no shortage of scene-stealing instances between them, while simultaneously articulating a limitless level of energy between them that proves they, and the many surprise cameos along the way, were on board with the sequel from the word go. This exubberant energy equally lends itself to Traill’s direction, which seamlessly embraces the anything goes mentality behind the Good Burger atmosphere, but also the three-dimensional growth of the set decoration, which has evolved our primary setting inside of this restaurant naturally. Capturing consistency in a product this outdated certainly isn’t an easy adversity to conquer, but the site decoration and abundance of clever sight gags give every shot a meaningful emphasis towards the depth of its unique world-building, in turn solidifying Traill as the ideal candidate for this infectious engagement that triggers nostalgic warmth, without downright smothering us with it. Further enhancing this restrain is the abundance of social commentary within the film’s second half that surprisingly gives the script plenty to chew on with its reflective social commentary. Pertaining to themes dealing with automation in the workplace and minimum wage, the film works in a lot of job force relevance to the script that further fuels its conflict, all the while proving to be a cultural slice of life, similar to its predecessor.

NEGATIVES

Despite some successes in the summoning of this iconic product and these characters, “Good Burger 2” is ultimately plagued by several underwhelming manufactured factors that seem to echo those of comedy sequels from years past, primarily with ineffective comedic gags that condemns its fresh factor. While there is an element of limitations to humor that we as adults found hilarious as kids and teenagers, the material to this sequel feels lazily produced and one-dimensionally repetitious, leaving the creative factor fizzling out as quickly as the film’s opening act, where it feels at a point like this is as good as it will ever get. The answer to that question is a resounding yes, as Ed’s penchant for smartass literal responses initially lands with nostalgic charms, before growing tedious by the consistency of its repetition, but this time with Ed’s kids, who are basically just six smaller versions of him. As to where the first film had this same tedious consistency, but balanced them with an underlining heart that measured wonderfully in contrast to these schenanigans, this sequel has nothing of the type, which only further emphasizes the one-dimensional tonal consistency that wears thin on the material almost immediately. Besides the humor, the film’s visual presentation can never evade the straight to streaming familiarity of its appearance, primarily in the artificiality of the movie’s lighting schemes that overwhelms the movie’s cinematography in the most unappealing ways. This might prove faithful to the appearance and consistencies of TV productions, which is where the characters originate from, but considering this is a sequel to a major motion picture, it doesn’t match the textured visuals of the original, which speaks volumes to the overwhelming gap between Paramount Plus and big screen cinema that still remains wedged as wide as it’s ever been. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the film’s plot structure is a near identical clone to that of its first movie, with assorted details and surmizing conflicts that not only smother originality, but also create some noticeable leaps in logic between the characters that had me scratching my head. I’m not looking for realism in a Good Burger movie, but when Dexter makes the same mistake that he did in the first film, which nearly cost him and his restaurant everything, it makes me wonder if Ed is the superior intelligent between them, which should never be the case after even five minutes of experience with either of their characters. This isn’t even the only plot convenience, but it’s definitely the one that proved the lack of growth from one of our two lead protagonists, all the while directly undercutting into the magnitude of triumph from the original film’s conflict that falls flatter, after knowing Dexter doesn’t learn anything from his past mistakes.

OVERALL
“Good Burger 2”, like fast food, might taste good going down, but ultimately isn’t good for you. Though benefited greatly by workforce relevant conflicts and an unmatched chemistry from Thompson and Mitchell, which is still the grease that fuels the friers, the film unfortunately diminishes its growth factor with inconsistent character decisions and one-dimensional humor that withers its flavor frenetically, in turn cementing a bad taste to a Thanksgiving weekend full of delicious dishes.

My Grade: 5/10 or D+