Premise - George Newman ('Weird Al' Yankovic) is a loser who goes through jobs like water. When his uncle wins a flagging UHF television station in a game of cards he hands the deeds over to George. George imbues the channel with his own brand of programming in an effort to make it a success. UHF was a trip down memory lane for me as I was big fan of this movie when I was in high school. Unfortunately, I seem to remember the film being a lot better than it is. When I used to watch the film many years ago with my mates I recall howling with laughter at Yankovic's crazy antics and inspired parodies. Alas, upon this re-watching I found the film to be mildly amusing in points, but nowhere near the comedy masterpiece that I seem to recall. So what's different this time round? Nothing with the film, it's exactly the same movie. Could it be that I have evolved past the kind of humour on offer here and now demand something more in order to raise a smile? Possibly, but I still find 'Airplane!' a laugh riot and consider it the funniest film ever made. I put my apathy down to 'mob mentality'. UHF for me was a communal experience, I would always watch it with my friends and we would ape the film mercilessly when we hung out, copying lines, etc. So, to watch it now a good ten years later on my own left me cold. I have no doubts if I gathered together my friends from the period and put on the DVD that we would revel in the memories and have a good time. So what of the film itself? Well, the basic story is an intriguing one. The premise leaves much room for comedy as Yankovic has pretty much free reign to churn out a precession of clever parodies on TV shows and films. Some work (Raul's Wild Kingdom, Bowling For Burgers, Conan The Librarian, Wheel Of Fish & Ghandi 2) whilst some fall flat and seem to drag on forever (Rambo, a weak DIY show with Emo Phillips & the opening sequence which rips on 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark' which seems to just go on and on and on...........). As well as the film and TV parodies the film uses a lot of sight gags. Again as with the parodies some work, but most are poor and fall short of raising even the mildest of chuckles. It really is a hit and miss affair for the most part and it's a shame to say that there are more misses than hits. Yankovic made his name doing parodies of famous songs and their music videos, when you stretch his material out to a full length feature you start to see cracks appearing. The man himself isn't even that much of an actor and to have to put up with his overacting for the running time is a hard fight. Elsewhere you have Fran Descher as a wannabe news anchorwoman. To say her voice is like dragging nails down a blackboard is an understatement, I nearly skipped past her scenes as I find her to be just so irritating. Easily best of the bunch is Michael (Kramer form Seinfeld) Richards as the stations janitor and through some twist of fate, the host of the stations biggest hit. His madcap physical comedy is like an oasis of laughs surrounded by a barren dessert of deathly silence. I should also mention that the score is a dreadful dirge that just seems to carry on like a background of white noise. In saying that though, one of Yankovic's musical parodies is quite good as he mixes Dire Straits' hit 'Money For Nothing' with the theme song for 'The Beverly Hillbillies'. It's saddening to think that I paid £9.99 for this DVD, next time I think about picking up a film that I rated highly in my youth I will have to think long and hard about the decision. The film isn't a complete train wreck as there is some funny stuff here. Not enough, however to make me laugh like a hyena as I used to. It seems that fond memories should be left as just that, memories.

3/10 for UHF. Poster Quote - Change the channel.