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Strange Brew
US DVD release for Strange Brew.
Directed by	Rick Moranis Dave Thomas
Produced by	Louis M. Silverstein
Written by	Rick Moranis Dave Thomas Steve DeJarnatt
Starring	Rick Moranis Dave Thomas Max Von Sydow Paul Dooley Lynne Griffin Angus MacInnes Tom Harvey Douglas Campbell
Music by	Charles Fox
Cinematography	Steven B. Poster
Editing by	Patrick McMahon
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	August 26, 1983 (USA)
Running time	90 min.
Language	English
Budget	$ 4,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue	$8,571,374 (USA)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Strange Brew is a 1983 film starring the popular SCTV characters Bob & Doug McKenzie, played by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, who also directed. Max von Sydow co-stars. The story is loosely based on the Shakespearean play Hamlet, with the McKenzie Brothers taking the roles of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Two adult brothers, Bob and Doug McKenzie, are in a bind when they run out of beer and have already given away the beer money given to them by their father. The brothers place a mouse in a beer bottle in an attempt to get free beer. The brothers try to get their beer at a local beer store but are told to take it up with the brewery. After presenting the evidence to management at Elsinore brewery, the brothers are given jobs on the line to inspect the bottles for issues such as mice.

What they are unaware of is a plot by Brewmeister Smith (von Sydow) to take over the world by placing chemicals in the beer which, while otherwise rendering the consumer docile, causes him or her to attack others when the appropriate music is played. (Thus the title "Strange Brew"). Smith tests this beer on patients of the conveniently-located Royal Canadian Institute for the Mentally Insane.

Meanwhile, a second plot is in action which is inspired by and somewhat resembles the plot of Hamlet. The former brewery owner dies and his daughter (Lynne Griffin) turns 21, giving her full control of the brewery. Her uncle (Paul Dooley) married the widowed wife and is reluctant to give up his recently-gained control (although he is really just a pawn to Brewmeister Smith). Bob and Doug are caught in the middle of these plots and maintain a close relationship with the daughter, stumbling upon the revelation of her father's murder, a onetime hockey great (Angus MacInnes) now under Smith's control, and the Brewmeister's plot for world domination. Plenty of comedy ensues, including a skunk-painted dog and a tongue-in-cheek ghost.

A loose framework story style is employed in the movie; the opening shows the McKenzies at the "Great White North" movie premier, which they return to at the close of the main story.

The movie's theme song was performed by Dave Thomas' brother, rock singer-songwriter Ian Thomas. The McKenzie's father is voiced by famous voice actor Mel Blanc.

The character Claude Elsinore, who married his late brother's wife and is vying for control of the brewery, is named after the uncle in Hamlet, Claudius, who in the play killed his brother and married his wife, and assumes control of the kingdom. Likewise, Mrs. Elsinore's first name is Gertrude, also the name of Hamlet's mother in the play. Furthermore, the name of the company, Elsinore, is also the name of the Danish castle in Hamlet.

• Comparison to Hamlet
• Bob and Doug McKenzie website, pictures, clips, and information