“Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger! Can I take your order?”

Justin’s rating: This movie both made me really want a burger and never want to eat a burger ever again

Justin’s review: I think you can agree that there’s something deeply weird in being a latecomer to a particular beloved, popular, or even notorious movie. It’s something you’ve heard about, yes, but only had first-hand experience years (if not decades) after it entered into the pop culture zeitgeist. And the result of watching it may end in a number of ways, including shrugging and going “That’s what all the fuss was about? Seriously?” and slapping yourself on the head and feeling foolish that you missed out on this for so long.

I’ve never seen Good Burger until now. This is probably due to me not being a Nickelodeon kid — we didn’t have cable and I was probably a shade too old for it in the ’90s. So is it too late to drive through and pick up an order of goofy “weedless stoner” comedy? Nah.

Starring Kenan Thompson (The Mighty Ducks) and Kel Mitchell (Mystery Men), Good Burger was spun off of a skit from Nickelodeon’s All That series. It takes place at the titular fast food joint, where the idiotic Ed (Mitchell) works alongside new hire Dexter (Thompson). It’s not the best place in the world — it is fast food, after all — but the crew has a good time, including fry cook Abe Vigoda.

However, their pathetic livelihood comes under attack when the evil Mondo Burger opens across the street. It’s only due to Ed’s creation of a secret sauce that helps Good Burger go toe-to-toe with the big boy.*

It’s also cool to see Ed and Dexter gradually become best buds despite being polar opposites. They’re clearly having a great time bouncing off each other through double dating, mental asylums, and driving a burger-shaped car at 70 mph. There’s even a nutty dance scene set to George Clinton with George Clinton, because — if you did not notice from the Fruitopia signs — this is the most ’90s thing ever created.

If I had to sum up the spirit of this movie in a phrase, it would be “exuberant energy.” Good Burger is bursting with shameless attitude aimed at pleasing its tween demographic with as much unfiltered silliness as possible. I can see why this became such a touchstone for ’90s kids who appreciated the living cartoon approach.

It’s also a perfect platform for its stars. Kel Mitchell steals the show as the thick-headed literal Ed, a guy who talks in a distinctive gutteral tone that begs for viewers to immediately mimic it. But as much of a breakout hit as Ed is, Kenan Thompson’s Dexter is no slouch. He’s got impeccable comedic timing despite only being 19 when this came out, and it’s a joy to see this SNL star on the cusp of greatness.

Toss in some Sinbad, Shaq, Carmen Electra, George Clinton, and a top-notch soundtrack, and this is a genuinely fun — if juvenile — time. It’s also become another one of those unintentional time capsules of ’90s fashion, technology, and music that hits pretty hard if you lived through it all.

Yeah, I have to say that Good Burger is good enough for me. And I hear there’s a sequel?

*It’s weirdly almost the exact plot of 1989’s Fast Food, a movie that nobody but me remembers.

Intermission!

• Oh man, that ’90s teal-and-turquoise cup design!
• Stop-motion burger making
• Talking burgers in minute one: “I’m flying with fast food!”
• He sleeps and showers in his work outfit?
• Of course there’s rollerblading, this was 1997!
• Babies make great basketballs
• Sinbad is making quite the costuming choice here
• You get fired if you show up to work without pants
• “Brother Reed, you have messed up my afro.”
• Of course there’s a big chunky cell phone, this was 1997!
• Milkshake machines are basically jacuzzis
• Mondo Burger has incredible costuming
• Kurt likes to talk about himself in the third person
• “You’re an unusually bad guesser.”
• “Boy, you must really suck!”
• “Any accidents on your record?” “Not to your knowledge!”
• “I should have died years ago.”
• Spatch ate the fly
• The Burgermobile (with fry wiper blades)
• “There’s no way a guy can watch his own butt.”
• Mondo Burger has its own horn section
• “I suppose I can always feed my mother cat food.”
• Nose grapes
• “Yippy skippy!”
• Amazing how a montage (set to ska music, because this was 1997) turns everything around
• SHHHAAAAAQQQQQ
• “It’s OK people, her butt is fine!”
• This is a good movie pick if you want to see Carmen Electra beat up a whole lot
• “Where is that dang dog?” HA
• Padded walls are a cool playground if you treat it the right way
• “Goodness gracious, he’s killing Sydney!”
• Abe Vigoda is amazing
• George Clinton to the rescue
• American Gladiators name drop