The Venture Bros.

Reviewed by:
Patrick Richardson

Adult Swim pillages another 1960s action-adventure cartoon series—Johnny Quest gets the nod this go-round—and updates the premise for its typical (read: stoned) late-night audience. The result is a self-consciously irreverent spoof that tries too hard to prove it can be as funny and bizarre as its network's predecessors. The Venture Bros. follows around dim-witted fraternal twins Hank and Dean Venture and their self-loathing scientist father, Dr. Rusty Venture, who spend their time hopping from one dangerous situation to the next. Adventures take them everywhere from the slums of Tijuana to the Bermuda Triangle to a run-down space station built by their genius grandfather. Surrounded by inept enemies, Hank and Dean battle evil but rely mostly on the brawn of testosterone-fueled über-spy Brock (Patrick Warburton, The Tick) and dumb luck to get them out of danger. The Venture Bros. shows signs of promise, but too often goes for obvious jokes that aren't enjoyable even under the proper influence…we heard.