If there's a case of a person laughing to prevent themselves from crying, it must be Mike Judge. Whether he mocked the modern workplace in Office Space, presented a dystopian future in Idiocracy or spoofed the pop-culture landscape with Beavis and Butt-Head, Judge looks at where modern society is going and shakes his head in exasperation.
Now he's brought Beavis and Butt-Head back to television, renaming it Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head. His foulmouthed, idiotic heroes (both voiced by Judge) take shots at Twilight, Jersey Shore and Mixed Martial Arts. Paramount Home Video has already compiled the new season - considered Season 8 - and is bringing it out on Blu-Ray on February 14th.
While more jokes hit than miss, the satire isn't as sharp as in previous years.
MTV, Paramount Home Video Presents Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head Volume 4 Blu-Ray
Beavis and Butt-Head (Butt-Head's the slightly more intelligent one) are back mocking pop culture and doing as much damage to themselves as they possibly can. Whether it's a cult deciding that Beavis' hyperactive alter ego Cornholio is their new messiah, attempting to turn themselves into werewolves or accidentally becoming spokescreatures for Intelligent Design Theory, if there's ever a bad decision in life, Beavis and Butt-Head will make it.
The boys also take time out to watch TV and mock what's going on - however, it's clear these clips are outside of the usual plot-lines since they're not diseased in 'Werewolves of Highland' sequences or obese in 'Supersize Me'. Not surprisingly, reality shows like Jersey Shore or Teen Mom get hammered most often (you can feel Judge's outrage over a teen mom deciding she needs a boob job), but Beavis and Butt-head's wit isn't as biting as it could be. This may be a case of art not being nearly as dumb as life: how could Beavis and Butt-Head make Jersey Shore look worse than it already is?
Despite the occasional great line - while watching Cage the Elephant destroy a bunch of cars in their "In One Ear" video, Butt-Head comments, "Don't ever park in Cage the Elephant's parking lot." - their reviews of music videos are surprisingly tepid. For instance, the ludicrous T-Baby's 'It's So Cold in the D' screams for more insults but the boys don't deliver. I guess the Beavis and Butt-Head Insult Machine needs more time to warm up.
Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head Volume 4 Blu-Ray Reviews
In the featurette "Interruptions", Butt-Head pretends to make prank phone calls to various Jersey Shore cast members: the highlight is Butt-Head asking Snooki to list "the biggest sluts" on the show.
Johnny Knoxville (Jackass) hosts an entertaining Comic-Con 2011 panel featuring Mike Judge talking about the show.. Finally, there's a PSA about turning off your cellphones in movie theatres.
Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head Volume 4 Blu-Ray Needs Work
While more Mike Judge is always welcome, the new Beavis and Butt-Head series needs to lose some rust before it can compete with the show's glory days. The Volume 4 Blu-Ray gets a 3/5.
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
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