Really Surprised!

The movie is wildly uneven but lively and timely - in its own surreal way

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Yes, it's dated. Yes, it's sophomoric. Yes, it gross. Yes, it's infantile and scatological. But for it's time, it was revolutionary and subversive. I saw the first version of the Groove Tube in my college student union at the University of Denver somewhere in the 1969 - 1972 time frame. (Yes, I was there and I don't remember.) It was a black and white video tape (very advanced at the time) consisting mostly of real TV commercials being mocked with altered audio commentary. It was hilarious. But obviously, the product manufacturers would not think too kindly if it bubbled up beyond it's subversive college project level. So, almost all of the original material disappeared from the actual movie.I think those who dislike Groove Tube can't place it in its proper time frame. It was irreverent comedy rising from campus counter-culture dissent, Viet Nam & Kent State. We've become a bit jaded in the 40 years since. The bleeding edge isn't always pretty.

I saw this in Detroit in what must have been its original run. I literally rolled into the aisle of the theater. It was that funny. I haven't seen it since, but would love to. Where do you get a copy? Anybody saying anything about it being dated or overdone are, for my money, just a bunch of poseurs. Each skit is either wickedly, erotically or perversely hilarious. Each one! There is not a weak one included. The opening sequence, for instance, which parodies 2001, features gorilla go-go-dancers with pendulous breasts. Felinni would have filmed it had he the wicked wit... If you come to this film with an open mind and a blithely sneering heart, you'll pencil it right into your very best list.

I was born in 1982. Most of my childhood memories are in the extreme late 80's and 90's. I watched the Groove Tube for the first time in 2001, when I was 19.And I found it hilarious.So for anybody who thinks that something "dated" can't be quite funny 30 years later....think again! It's funny even if you have no idea what the 70's were like, and the thought of bell-bottom pants make you cringe. Who can argue with a Bozo the Clown type who reads adult literature? There is plenty to laugh at. The scrotal puppet show at the end is the best.

Remember when Robert Morse danced down the middle of a Manhattan street in HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING weaving between the other pedestrians? There is a sequence in this movie that mimics that and it's about the most hysterical thing in the film. Another sequence that is pretty good and inventive is the WATERGATE hearings done to a jazzy accompanying score. The rest of the film is spotty at best: some parts you may find funny while others you may find fall flat like a pancake. It's one of those types of movies you really have to be in the mood to see. It's offensive, obnoxious, weird, strange, bizarre and totally off the wall. Maybe the screenwriter was stoned when he wrote the movie and maybe even when he directed it. Cameo appearances are made by Chevy Chase and Richard Belzer (both are fairly funny in their individual bits). I howled at Belzer's Puerto Rican accent! A spoof of everything TV, Laugh-In style but not as funny; would make a great double feature with the uncut version of FLESH GORDON.