The Brady Bunch Movie surprised audiences with its novel notion of transplanting the Bradys—polyester, platitudes, and all—to the Southern California of the '90s, where their neighbors and schoolmates, much like real-life TV viewers, regard them with a mixture of befuddlement, repulsion, and fascination. A Very Brady Sequel continues in the same vein, yet this time around the satire is dulled. Brady fans will again relish the old plot references and cheesy songs, and savor an in-joke about sexual tension between Greg and Marcia. Bradyisms, however, are relegated to the background to serve a laborious storyline involving a bad guy (Tim Matheson) impersonating Carol's first husband, and several boring guest appearances (including the omnipresent Rosie O'Donnell) spoil the fun. The first film shrewdly filtered Bradyana through an ironic, self-aware sensibility that made it energetic and often very funny. A Very Brady Sequel is too often content to rely on strained plot machinations that, given the subject, may be suitably uninspired, but come off as flat anyway.