No Brainer's Video Guide to Life: On Buying a New Car

Talk about your no-brainers! When considering the purchase of a new car, we are told here that it's important to consider "your personal preference" of make and model. DUH! Another choice bit of advice is, "It's definitely a good idea to map out your financing options ahead of time." In this video guide for novice car buyers, we are subjected to repeated abuses of attempts at humor in both narrative and skits, which includes "grandpa" telling the "kids" that back in his day they had to make their own cars out of scrap metal and chocolate when the Germans weren't shooting at them. Ha. Ha. Ha. Then there are the "what the hell was that for?" moments, such as when a narrator states that most people don't have $20,000 in cash to buy a new car (duh again) but if you do--here he switches to a bad attempt at an Irish brogue--"May the road rise to meet you and may the wind always be at your back." Huh? Among the myriad hosts are women who all wear too-tight t-shirts and one knobby-kneed guy in shorts. Much of the narrative is underscored by on-screen graphics in Hippie Font Bold and loud we're-having-some-fun-now rock music, accompanied by a computer-generated animation of a green brain dancing in a hula-hoop or hopping on a pogo stick--the No Brainer logo, presumably. Still, to be fair, the tape is not a complete and total information wasteland: the material on figuring the car dealer's actual cost is useful. However, that information can already be found in many consumer publications--publications which offer sound advice while not offending the reader's intelligence. An optional choice for public libraries with absolutely nothing else on the subject in any medium. (R. Reagan)