You think you’ve heard this story before, but you haven’t.

This is the story of a dreamer. The story of a guy who just doesn’t fit in in the day-to-day world of serving up burgers and fries to the local yokels. Nobody understands him. They think he’s weird. They’re too small minded to understand the power of his dreams. Until one day, when his fate changes and he can finally show the world what he’s made of.

Yeah. You’ve heard that part.

What you haven’t heard is what comes next. The dreamer gets up to perform in front of all those people who never understood him; it’s his chance to prove what he’s made of, to finally show them all what they could never see in him…

And he’s terrible. That is, until he realizes that his strength is in empowering the ability of the people around him.

That’s the story we get in UHF. It isn’t about the guy who gets famous. It isn’t about the girl who becomes a star. This is about the guy who recognizes the talent of those around him and puts that talent to work. This is the story of a television executive.

And it’s brilliant.

We tend to distrust of the executive types in the world of entertainment; there’s a sense that they’re only concerned about the bottom line, that the artist has to fight them tooth and nail to get his vision out there to the people. And some of that reputation is earned. But UHF makes a powerful case for the executive-as-creator.

The way that UHF promotes the potential of home-brew shows hosted by regular folks seems almost impossibly prescient in today’s world of vlogs and Vines and Let’s Plays. “There’s talent all around you,” this movie is saying. “If only you could see it.”

And now you can.

And all of those grandiose, visionary ideas are packaged in a mad flailing romp of a comedy. The jokes come at a pace that approaches the insanity of Airplane! There’s parody and social commentary and slapstick and pratfalls; joke segments pop up out of nowhere never to be referenced again. (Sadly one such segment “Raul’s Wild Kingdom” featured actor Trinidad Silva who died in a car accident during the filming of the movie.)

Maybe the strangest thing about this movie is how Weird Al isn’t really the “star”. So many other performers shine in this film, and so many hilarious bits and sketches are handled by other characters, particularly the childlike and lovable Stanley Spadowski. It’s impressive, considering that Weird Al wrote much of the script, how generous he is with the jokes instead of constantly shoving himself in the limelight.

UHF is an ode to art and laughter and the people whose talent is recognizing talent in others. Its humor is simple and down to earth, but almost never crass. Financially it was a failure, but its legacy has endured and will go on long after anyone remembers what UHF even means.

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Albert was born in the swamps of Florida and quickly developed a gripping writing style by wrestling with crocodiles. Albert is the author of The Mulch Pile and A Prairie Home Apocalypse or: What the Dog Saw .