All Rise...

Judge Roy Hrab wishes Greg the Bunny and his puppet friends would return to their Sweetknuckle Junction days.

Editor's Note

Our reviews of Greg The Bunny: Best Of The Film Parodies (published October 18th, 2006) and Greg The Bunny: The Complete Series (published January 26th, 2005) are also available.

The Charge

Puppets With a Passion for Parody…and Sex, Drugs and Violence.

The Case

The trials and tribulations of Greg the Bunny, from its demise as a sitcom on Fox to its resurrection on the Independent Film Channel (IFC) as a film parody series are well documented in other decisions (see Greg The Bunny: The Complete Series and Greg The Bunny: Best Of The Film Parodies, so I will not bother with a rehash here. Instead, let us focus on the material at hand: The Passion Of Greg The Bunny: Best Of The Film Parodies Volume 2. This release contains six of the "best" film parodies from show's second season on IFC, featuring Greg, Warren, Pal Friendly, Count Blah, and The Wumpus.

The episodes on display are:

"Wumpus The Monster": In this parody of Monster, Greg befriends Wumpus, who is so grateful for having a friend that he begins to kill anybody Greg dislikes or spends time with.

"Sockville": This episode parodies Lars von Trier's Dogville. In a dream, Greg finds himself in a town made of chalk outlines. When he finds a piece of chalk, he changes the town forever.

"Blue Velveteen": A parody of David Lynch's Blue Velvet, along with nods to Dune, The Elephant Man, and Twin Peaks. Greg suspects Warren of murdering The Wumpus. So, he starts looking for clues.

"Plush: Behind The Seams": This parody of Behind The Music examines Greg and Warren's rock band, Plush.

"Wacky Wednesday": Greg and Warren trade bodies in this parody of Freaky Friday.

"The Passion Of The Easter Bunny—Fabricated American Movie": American Movie meets The Passion Of The Christ as a documentary crew follows Greg as he tries to produce a vanity project, "The Passion Of The Easter Bunny".

Before I begin, let me state that I'm a fan of the original Greg the Bunny series on Fox. That show was edgy, clever, irreverent and hilarious. However, that was then, this is now. The IFC series is simply not funny and lacks imagination. The series is now mostly a series of crude jokes (many involving violence or puppet sex) and lots of profanity with storylines loosely based on films. While "Sockville" and "Blue Velveteen" have some funny moments, as a whole, these "parodies" are lackluster. Further, in the case of "Wumpus The Monster", the episode can't be called film parodies at all. It all gets rather tedious before long.

The audio and video are clean and crisp. No complaints here.

The DVD is loaded with extras. Every episode has a light-hearted commentary provided by series creators Dan Milano, Spencer Chinoy, Sean Baker, and Chris Bergoch. The four provide information about customers, artistic control, sets, inspiration, and a host of other factoids. There are deleted scenes, outtakes, a gag reel, and a photo gallery. Among the other extras is a reunion episode and the uncut "Supper With Friends" segment. Most of the bonus materials mirror the parodies: crude jokes.

Overall, this release is for diehard IFC Greg fans. They will love it. However, fans of Fox's version, like me, may be disappointed and annoyed. Such is life.

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