Good Burger 2 is a 2023 American comedy film directed by Phil Traill, and starring Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. It is a sequel to the film Good Burger (1997), which was based on a comedy sketch featured on the Nickelodeon series All That. The story follows Dexter Reed reuniting with Ed at his old workplace Good Burger, where the pair unveils a secret involving a successor to their old rival restaurant.
Talks of a sequel for Good Burger occurred in 2018 through the interest of both Thompson and Mitchell, three years after the pair were reunited in a sketch on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2015.[1] The sequel was officially announced in March 2023 under its current title, along with both actors returning as Dexter Reed and Ed, respectively. The film was produced by Nickelodeon Movies and Awesomeness Films, and was filmed from May to June of that same year, mirroring the same production window as the original.[2]
The film was released on November 22, 2023, on the streaming service Paramount+, and received mixed reviews.
Plot
26 years after the events of the first film, Dexter Reed has quit Good Burger in the hopes of becoming a successful entrepreneur, but his invention ideas turn out to be failures. His latest invention, a spray that can make any material flame-retardant, backfires as he attempts to showcase the material on his own house in a demonstration for investors, including Mark Cuban, that ends up burning it down. Left without a home and business, Dexter looks to move in with his sister Charlotte, but she refuses as she is one of his investors. He then calls Ed, who still works at Good Burger and agrees to let him stay at his home.
Dexter visits Good Burger to find numerous new employees: two twins Cindy and Mindy; the elderly Ruth; Ed's son Ed 2, who looks and acts exactly like Ed; and Dexter's niece Mia, Charlotte's daughter who wants nothing to do with Dexter. The restaurant has a new manager named Mr. Jensen. In addition to working as the cashier, Ed is now the owner due to his love of the restaurant. The only familiar employee is Fizz, whom Ed had accidentally left in the freezer for 22 years and is thawed out. At Ed's home, Dexter meets Ed's family: his wife Edie and their numerous other children who look like Ed and are named after condiments. Dexter is shocked to find that Roxanne, who previously tried to seduce Ed for the recipe for his sauce for Mondo Burger, now works as their nanny.
Dexter decides to work at Good Burger again while considering his next entrepreneurial venture. When he pitches his permanent ice idea to Mia, she laughs it off. Meanwhile, Ed has been hounded by Cecil McNevin, a lawyer for the conglomerate MegaCorp, to turn Good Burger into a global franchise, but Ed is uncertain. MegaCorp sends a pair of goons to force Ed into signing the agreement, but Ed's natural clumsiness gets them hurt. Cecil tries to appeal to Dexter, explaining their intent is to expand Good Burger but not to take it away from Ed and are planning to give the employees big raises. Dexter considers it based on the financial benefit and then brings Ed to lunch with Cecil to explain the deal and they both agree to sign.
At the franchise launch party, Cecil reveals that the flagship store is being shut down with their employees being fired as mandated by the contract, which Dexter and Ed had failed to read before signing. With everyone turning against Dexter, he takes Ed to MegaCorp headquarters to demand they reinstate the flagship restaurant and rehire the employees. They meet with the CEO Katt Bozwell, the sister of former Mondo Burger owner Kurt Bozwell who wants revenge on Good Burger after sending Kurt away to prison. She is planning to rebrand the restaurant Mega Good Burger and has plans to replace all employees with robot versions of Ed. After destroying the Good Burger car, MegaCorp sends them home in a self-driving delivery car which Katt sends out of control to get rid of them. Dexter forces the car to drive in a circle until it runs out of power.
Lamenting his failures, Dexter gets Ed to rally the Good Burger employees to stop the launch of Mega Good Burger. They plan to infiltrate MegaCorp headquarters so Mia, a computer expert, can shut down the machines before the launch. While Dexter, Ed, and Mia infiltrate the building, the other employees create a distraction, but their ruse is uncovered. Dexter and Ed get separated from Mia and find the control room while Mia is trapped on a conveyor belt. Dexter goes off to find Mia, leaving Ed to shut down the restaurants. Dexter saves Mia, but they are captured and taken to the control room where Ed is also taken. As Katt gives the first demonstration on national television, the robotic Ed throws food at her, followed by the other machines shooting food at everyone at every location around the world. Ed had decided reprogramming the machines to go haywire would be better.
In the aftermath, MegaCorp is shut down and Ed is given back ownership of the original Good Burger. Charlotte comes to visit Dexter and Mia and Dexter is allowed to apologize to her. Ed and Ed 2 reveal to Dexter that they figured out how to make permanent ice and Good Burger successfully sells it to Mark Cuban, making $10,000,000.
Cast
Kenan Thompson as Dexter Reed, a former Good Burger employee who rejoined the workplace
Kel Mitchell as Ed, the current owner of Good Burger and Dexter's best friend
Sinbad as Dexter’s business manager; he previously portrayed Mr. Wheat in the first film
Alexa Kahn as Burgers, Beverages, & Sauces
James III as Burger
David Chen as French Fries and Sauces
Production
Development
Two of the original film's stars, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell, reprised their roles as Dexter Reed and Ed for the first time after their 2015 reunion together.
In 1998, Aladdin Paperbacks published a children's novel, Good Burger 2 Go, that served as a sequel to the original film.[3] The book, written by Steve Holland, featured Ed following a short-changed customer around the globe.[4] On September 23, 2015, both Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell made a "Good Burger" sketch for a reunion on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. In March 2018, Mitchell said there were talks on a Good Burger 2,[1] and in December, he and Thompson said they are open for a potential sequel or reboot.[5]
In December 2021, the director of the original film and current CEO of Paramount Pictures, Brian Robbins revealed he wanted to create an animated series based on Good Burger for the Paramount+ streaming service, and hoped to have Thompson and Mitchell involved at some capacity.[6] Mitchell expressed an interest in reviving Good Burger, due to his youngest son being a fan of the film.[7] In August 2022, shortly after receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Thompson confirmed that he and Mitchell were working on the sequel.[8] During the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards where Thompson served as host, the duo once again hinted the sequel after performing a skit with Kumail Nanjiani.[9][10] In October 2022, Thompson confirmed that the screenplay was finished, with him and Mitchell teasing the script in a joint Instagram post.[11] In March 2023, both Thompson and Mitchell officially announced the sequel's title as Good Burger 2, in addition to both actors reprising their roles as Dexter Reed and Ed.[2]
The film was dedicated to two of the original Good Burger cast members, Abe Vigoda and Ron Lester, who both passed away in 2016, rapper Coolio and singer Irish Grinstead from 702.[12]
Good Burger 2 released on Paramount+ on November 22, 2023, in the United States and Canada.[16] It was released on November 23, 2023, in the United Kingdom and Australia.[16]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 59% of 17 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.7/10.[20]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 48 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[21]
Murtada Elfadl of Variety criticized the lack of use of Thompson in the film, saying: "The sequel denies him a showcase for his obvious comedic talent. Forced into playing the straight man to Mitchell's more flashy character, Thompson ends up explaining the wacky shenanigans happening instead of doing anything comedic. Almost every nonsensical line Mitchell utters is followed by a sober explanation from Thompson, suggesting the writers don't trust the audience to get the obvious jokes". He also took issue with the underused cameos of other SNL cast, labeling them "wasted one-scene characters". He ended his review saying, "When a fast food sequel takes this long to make, it ought to come out tasting a lot better than Good Burger 2".[22]
Jennifer Green reviewing for Common Sense Media gave the film a score of three out of five and wrote "Mitchell, Thompson, Howery, and Bell are all comical in their over-the-top roles, though Mitchell's Ed is funnier if viewed as single-minded rather than just simple (or even intellectually challenged)".[23]
Audience viewership
Good Burger 2 debuted at number one as the most-watched domestic launch in its first three days for an original film in Paramount+ history, as of December 2023. Viewership for the film was up 50% compared to the previous record holder, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines.[24]
Potential future
Director Phil Traill told the Radio Times in November 2023, that there were plans for a third film and other sequels:
The character of Ed has not changed [...] he now has a family, he's got a bunch of kids and a wife, but he is still the same old Ed. As that doesn't change, we can just do it again and again and put them in crazier and crazier situations. There's plans afoot for various things. I don't think it has to be limited to a trilogy, it can go on.[25]
